TalkTalk Hacker Jailed

The hacker behind the 2015 TalkTalk cyber-attack in the UK has been sentenced to 4 years. The attack cost the company £77 million (€86.3 million) after the personal details of 157,000 customers were stolen. A twenty-two year old, Daniel Kelley, from Llanelli, South Wales, became a "Black Hat" hacker when he failed to get the GCSE grades to get on to a computer course.

He hacked his college "out of spite" before targeting companies in Canada, Australia and the UK, including a telecommunications giant with four million customers. He has admitted to targeting at least six organisations by threatening to sell their hacked data on the dark web unless they paid him hundreds of thousands of pounds in Bitcoin. When they refused, he made good on his threats. 

The 22-year-old has Asperger's syndrome and has suffered from depression and extreme weight loss since he pleaded guilty to 11 hacking-related offences in 2016.

TalkTalk Attack
In October 2015, Kelley was one of many hackers who used software called ‘SQL injection’ to attack TalkTalk, whose then-chief executive Dido Harding was subjected to repeated extortion attempts demanding £80,000 (€89,715) in Bitcoin in exchange for stolen customer data. Investigations revealed details relating to 156,959 accounts were accessed, of which 15,656 had their bank account and sort code numbers accessed.

Kelley advertised this data for sale at $1,450,000 (€1,281,372) on a dark web site called dbs4sale. TalkTalk lost £42 million as a direct result of the attack and £35 million in other costs, including the loss of 95,000 customers. In another blackmail campaign, Kelley spent weeks hounding Australian firm For The Record for cash in return for not making its stolen customer data public. 

Fearing for its reputation, the company made several payments totalling 26.65 Bitcoin. However, Kelley continued to demand more from a marketing director at the firm, telling him in messages: “I could annihilate your company in days.” On 13 May 2015, the employee received an email from Kelley containing a picture of his 18-month-old son with a message reading: “How fun would it be find your son’s background ruined online, before he has even hit 10?”

The message, a clear threat to modify the child’s picture for sexual purposes, came alongside a series of menacing phone calls.

Other Attacks
In an early example of his hacking, Kelley also attacked a college near his hometown in revenge for tutors refusing him a place on a BTEC computer course because he had not passed enough GCSEs. Throughout 2013 and 2014, Coleg Dir Gar in south-west Wales was subjected to repeated ‘Distributed Denial of Service’ attacks. The disruption cost students hundreds of hours of teaching time and affected other parts of the Welsh public sector broadband network, costing a minimum of £399,000 (€447,438) in taxpayers’ money to mitigate.

Describing themselves as Team Hans, Kelley also encouraged and coached two accomplices to hack Canada’s Rogers Communications and send threatening messages to one of its employees. At an earlier hearing at the Old Bailey, Kelley pleaded guilty to blackmail charges involving a further three companies.

“Daniel Kelley is an opportunistic and utterly ruthless hacker who, motivated by financial gain and spite, caused enormous financial and reputational damage to his victims,” Russell Tyner, CPS specialist prosecutor, said.

“Far from showing mercy to the distressed employees of the companies he targeted, it is clear he took a vindictive pleasure in the anxiety and suffering his bullying inflicted on them.”

CPS Case
Kelley operated largely via an anonymous browsing network known as ‘the Onion Router’ and had also disguised his IP address, which made detecting his criminal activities extremely difficult. However, the Crown Prosecution Service was able to prove his culpability after examining evidence hidden in his digital devices, including chat logs and Bitcoin accounts.

Other files found on his computer included thousands of credit card numbers and details of the holders. Software and other tools designed to assist or enable hacking were also recovered from his computer, including SQLi tools which allow for rapid scanning of the entire internet.

“Hidden behind a cloak of anonymity, Kelley thought he could act with impunity by targeting companies worldwide he thought were vulnerable to cyber-attack,” Tyner said.

“Indeed he saw himself as a coach and mentor to his fellow hackers. But, working with colleagues in Canada and Australia, the CPS was able to piece together the many complex strands of evidence, which resulted in Kelley pleading guilty to 11 offences.”

Kelley pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey in December 2016 to 11 offences and he e has now been sentenced to four years in a youth detention centre.

The Journal:       Telegraph

You Might Also Read: 

TalkTalk Penalised With A Record Fine:

 

« The Spycraft Revolution
Be Prepared for Tomorrow’s Cyber Threat »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

MIRACL

MIRACL

MIRACL provides the world’s only single step Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) which can replace passwords on 100% of mobiles, desktops or even Smart TVs.

LockLizard

LockLizard

Locklizard provides PDF DRM software that protects PDF documents from unauthorized access and misuse. Share and sell documents securely - prevent document leakage, sharing and piracy.

Syxsense

Syxsense

Syxsense brings together endpoint management and security for greater efficiency and collaboration between IT management and security teams.

CSI Consulting Services

CSI Consulting Services

Get Advice From The Experts: * Training * Penetration Testing * Data Governance * GDPR Compliance. Connecting you to the best in the business.

Perimeter 81 / How to Select the Right ZTNA Solution

Perimeter 81 / How to Select the Right ZTNA Solution

Gartner insights into How to Select the Right ZTNA offering. Download this FREE report for a limited time only.

Cellebrite

Cellebrite

Cellebrite delivers comprehensive solutions for mobile data forensics and mobile lifecycle management.

Vectra Networks

Vectra Networks

Vectra provides real-time attack visibility and non-stop automated threat hunting powered by artificial intelligence.

NRD Cyber Security

NRD Cyber Security

NRD Cyber Security is a cyber security technology consulting, incident response and applied research company.

EverC

EverC

EverC (previously EverCompliant) is a leading provider of cyber intelligence that allows acquiring banks and payment service providers (PSP) to manage cyber risk.

iONLINE

iONLINE

iONLINE delivers high quality IT services and solutions to businesses in Azerbaijan.

Balbix

Balbix

Balbix BreachControl™ is the industry’s first system to leverage specialized AI to provide comprehensive and continuous predictive assessment of breach risk.

Caulis

Caulis

Caulis FraudAlert is a cyber security solution. It can detect fraud and identity theft based on users’ online behaviour.

Standards Council of Canada (SCC)

Standards Council of Canada (SCC)

SCC leads and facilitates the development and use of national and international standards and accreditation services in Canada.

Elemental Cyber Security

Elemental Cyber Security

Elemental is a game changing cyber security compliance automation and enforcement technology provider.

Nucleon Security

Nucleon Security

Nucleon Endpoint Detection and Response EDR is the most effective way to protect the value created by your organization against any threat.

Verica

Verica

Verica uses chaos engineering to make systems more secure and less vulnerable to costly incidents.

Extreme Networks

Extreme Networks

Since 1996, Extreme has been pushing the boundaries of networking technology, driven by a vision of making it simpler and faster as well as more agile and secure.

Iris Powered by Generali

Iris Powered by Generali

Iris Powered by Generali is an identity theft resolution provider. Our offering combines expert assistance and support with user-friendly identity protection technology.

AdronH

AdronH

AdronH is a company of Cyber Security consultants. We support companies and public institutions with their digital transformation to new and secure business platforms.

McKinsey & Company

McKinsey & Company

McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm. We are trusted advisor to the world's leading businesses, governments, and institutions.

Focus on Security

Focus on Security

Focus on Security are Cyber Security recruitment specialists. We’re dedicated to connecting you with the top Cyber Security talent across the globe. We focus on partnerships and results.