A screenshot of the London Metropolitan Police's web page that alerts visitors about online fraud
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Two UK teens have been convicted after hacking websites to steal credit card information, and have been accused of forcing one web host to shut down completely, according to a report by the Register.
Zachary Woodham, 19, and Louis Tobenhouse, 18, were prosecuted Friday after an investigation found the duo had targeted online gambling sites and web hosting businesses to steal thousands of credit card numbers.
Between April and May 2009, under the alias "Colonoel Root" Woodham targeted Punkyhosting. According to a report by the Daily Mail, he accompanied "his cyber-attacks with a series of silent telephone calls." Following the attacks, Punkyhosting went out of business.
"The conduct was entirely gratuitous and Woodham picked on the company at random," prosecutor Hugh Davies told the court. "It destroyed the web hosting company in question, and with it several years of work for the owner."
According to the police statement, "the attack was detected by the organization and they made attempts to prevent it. In response, Woodham repeatedly attacked the company over a number of weeks, causing it to cease trading. He then sent a taunting email gloating about his actions."
Woodham used the credit card information to pay for access to premium rate chat lines which he owned, according to police, laundering the money which he then paid into his own accounts.
The pair were active participants of the online criminal forum "GhostMarket" and had posted tutorials on the website offering advice on how to hack into websites, fraud and evade police capture.
"Woodham and Tobenhouse chose to abuse their computer skills causing a considerable amount of financial loss and anxiety to a number of innocent people," Detective Constable Stuart Hosking, police central e-crime unit said in a statement. "Woodham in particular has shown himself to be a vindictive hacker with no sign of remorse towards any of his victims."
Upon their arrest in December 2010, Tobenhouse apparently commented he "will never get a job in IT now."
Tobenhouse was handed a 24-month community order and 400 hours of unpaid work for encouraging crime and possession of articles for fraud.
Woodham was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment and 240 hours of unpaid work for hacking, encouraging crime, possession of articles for fraud and acquiring criminal property.
The judge told Woodham that he would have given him a three year sentence if he had been over 21 and hadn't pleaded guilty.
Last week, a UK law firm was charged over insufficient IT security after leaking 6,000 people's personal information. The firm had no firewall or access control on its IT system and was using a web hosting package not intended for business use.
Article Source http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/051711_UK_Teens_Sentenced_After_Hacks_Shut_Down_Web_Host_Punkyhosting permits to repubish here
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