Oh no, you're thinking, yet another cookie pop-up. Well, sorry, it's the law. We measure how many people read us, and ensure you see relevant ads, by storing cookies on your device. If you're cool with that, hit “Accept all Cookies”. For more info and to customize your settings, hit “Customize Settings”.

Review and manage your consent

Here's an overview of our use of cookies, similar technologies and how to manage them. You can also change your choices at any time, by hitting the “Your Consent Options” link on the site's footer.

Manage Cookie Preferences
  • These cookies are strictly necessary so that you can navigate the site as normal and use all features. Without these cookies we cannot provide you with the service that you expect.

  • These cookies are used to make advertising messages more relevant to you. They perform functions like preventing the same ad from continuously reappearing, ensuring that ads are properly displayed for advertisers, and in some cases selecting advertisements that are based on your interests.

  • These cookies collect information in aggregate form to help us understand how our websites are being used. They allow us to count visits and traffic sources so that we can measure and improve the performance of our sites. If people say no to these cookies, we do not know how many people have visited and we cannot monitor performance.

See also our Cookie policy and Privacy policy.

This article is more than 1 year old

TalkTalk HackHack DuoDuo PleadPlead GuiltyGuiltyGuiltyGuilty

Met cops gloat after pair admits to pilfering subscriber records

Two chaps in the UK have admitted stealing more than 150,000 customer records from TalkTalk.

Matthew Hanley, 22, and Connor Douglass Allsopp, 20, both from Tamworth, England, copped to charges in connection to the 2015 attack on the broadband ISP's systems and subsequent attempts to sell people's personal data to fraudsters.

Hanley pleaded guilty to three charges of violating the Computer Misuse Act and one charge of supplying an article for use in fraud, while Allsopp pleaded guilty to supplying an article for use in fraud and supplying an article intended for use in the commission of an offence.

The pair were among a group of four arrested by UK police in connection with the TalkTalk attack. Along with Allsopp and Hanley, Daniel Kelley, 19, of Wales and a juvenile from Norwich were nabbed for the heist.

According to Met Police, Hanley had attempted to hide traces of the attack from authorities by encrypting some data and wiping the rest. Instead, police say they accessed his social media accounts to get logs of conversations he had on the attack.

The police used news of the guilty pleas to take a victory lap.

"Hanley thought that he was being smart and covering his tracks by wiping his hard drives and encrypting his data," said Detective Chief Inspector Andy Gould of the Met Police Falcon cybercrime unit.

"But what our investigation shows is that no matter how hard criminals try to conceal their activity, they will leave some kind of trail behind."

Allsopp, meanwhile, admitted to police that he had supplied details on the vulnerabilities in TalkTalk's website that were exploited to get to the customer records. He then acted as the fence for the stolen data, attempting to sell it off to crooks.

The pair are set to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on May 31. ®

 

Similar topics

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like