Teen hackerman attacks Cambridge library website

A 17 year old hacker has admitted to seven hacking offences including attacks on a library website belonging to the University of Cambridge.

Last year the hacker, who cannot be named for legal reasons, launched a series of cyber attacks including an assault on the TalkTalk telecommunications company. The Information Commissioner’s Office said that 15,656 cases the hacker was able to access bank account details and sort codes of customers.

And private customer information for everyone

Prior to the high profile TalkTalk attack, the hacker also attacked websites belonging to the University of Manchester and the University of Cambridge.

From the Manchester hack, he gained access to a database of 693 staff and students containing email addresses and identity numbers. Prosecutor Laura Tams stated this was material that a “more capable hacker would be able to use for wider criminality”.

The young hacker certainly lacked capability in some areas. Both Cambridge and Manchester universities were able to track the IP of his computer to the teenager’s home address.

Not quite

The teenager showed remorse in court, admitting that he knew his actions were illegal and saying that he “didn’t really think of the consequences at the time” and confessed that “I was just showing off to my mates.” He went on to say that “I realise what I’ve done is really significant and it won’t happen again. I’ve grown up.”

On the bright side if he joins the CompSci Class of 2017, he’ll already know his way around the library website.