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TalkTalk hacker gets iPhone taken away by Norwich Youth Court

Unnamed teen also gets rehabilitation order

The 17-year-old lad who confessed to hacking crimes against UK ISP TalkTalk was today slapped with a 12-month rehabilitation order and had his iPhone confiscated.

The teen received the sentence, of sorts, at Norwich Youth Court, in east England, where chairman of the bench Jean Bonnick reportedly told the unnamed individual:

“Your IT skills will always be there - just use them legally in the future.”

The boy’s hard drive, as well as his Jesus Mobe, were taken away from him, the court also confirmed. All in all it was very likely to have been a slightly unpleasant morning for him.

The teen, who had used a hacking tool to reveal weak spots vulnerable to SQL injections on its website and shared them online, had previously told a magistrates court that gaining unauthorised access was just about “showing off to my mates”.

He did not gain financially from the hack but the budget ISP’s website was targeted more than 14,000 time after the vulnerabilities were revealed.

A breach in October 2015 actually impacted four per cent of TalkTalk customers, some 157,000 people. The budget ISP confirmed 15,656 of subscribers had had their bank account number and sort codes stolen in the incident and said the hack cost it £35m.

As a result, thousands of customers abandoned TalkTalk's broadband services in the opening three months of this year, and TalkTalk was fined a record £400,000 by the ICO for allowing the attackers to access customers data "with ease".

ICO boss Elizabeth Denham said TalkTalk had failed to implement the “most basic cyber security measures”.

“In spite of its expertise and resources, when it came to the basic principles of cyber security, TalkTalk was found wanting,” she added.

The teen had pleaded guilty in November to seven hacking charges. Two related to TalkTalk and others were connected to hacks of the website for Manchester and Cambridge Universities and martial arts badge provider Merit Badges.

Three other men in the UK have been charged in connection to various offensives linked with the investigation to the multiple hacks and will get their day in court too. ®

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