Norwich Magistrates’ Court has jailed a 30-year-old man who hacked into the websites of Norwich and Norfolk Hospital and Norwich Airport.
The court heard that Daniel Devereux's cyber attack took Norwich Airport's website down for three days, causing business disruption and financial damage – the cost to the airport was in excess of £35,000.
Devereux's cyber attack on the website of the Norwich and Norfolk Hospital did not affect clinical work – but closed the site down until it could be fixed the following day.
Devereux posted a video online boasting of his criminal activity – and also sent emails to staff at the organisations under the pseudonym “His Royal Gingerness”.
However, he was easily tracked down by IT experts who found clues about his computer's location both from his video and his attempts to access the websites.
Devereux pleaded guilty two counts of unauthorised access under the Computer Misuse Act at an earlier hearing at Norwich Magistrates' Court.
On Friday, 16 June 2017, he was sentenced to 20 weeks in jail for hacking the airport website and 12 weeks in jail for hacking the hospital website, to be served consecutively – a total of 32 weeks.
After sentencing, the Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service East of England, Punam Malhan, said:
“Through his attack on these two websites, Devereux caused inconvenience and financial cost. When faced with the weight of evidence against him, he pleaded guilty.
“Hacking is a serious criminal offence and anyone considering such an attack needs to know they are liable to prosecution.”
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