Teen hackers guilty of data theft

A pair of teenage Internet hackers have been found guilty of infiltrating the accounts of a number of online companies – including online casinos – in order to steal customers’ credit card details.
Zachary Woodham, 19 and Louis Tobenhouse, 18, both from Brighton, were arrested following an investigation by the Met’s Police Central e-Crime Unit, and brought to trial at Southwark Crown Court in connection with various computer misuse and fraud offences.
Woodham was given a 12 month prison term, suspended for 2 years, and 240 hours of unpaid work, while Tobenhouse received a lighter sentence of 200 hours of unpaid work and a 12 month community order.
Using the alias ‘Colonel Root’, in April 2009 Woodham hacked into Web hosting company ‘Punkyhosting’. The attack was detected by the organisation 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.
The offence was reported to police and following extensive inquiries by the PCeU, Woodham was identified as ‘Colonel Root’ and a search warrant was executed at his home address in Brighton. On his arrest Tobenhouse commented: “I will never get a job in IT now.”
Further inquiries revealed the extent of his online criminal activity and identified Tobenhouse’s involvement. It became clear that the pair had targeted online casinos/betting companies as well as other web hosting businesses. A subsequent examination of their computers led to the discovery of thousands of credit cards details.
Woodham used some of these cards to pay for access to a number of premium rate chat lines which he owned, thereby laundering the money which he then paid into his own accounts.
The two were also found to be active participants of the online criminal forum ‘GhostMarket’, an investigation into which saw four people sentenced to over 15 years imprisonment in March. Woodham and Tobenhouse posted tutorials on the website giving advice on how to hack into company websites, commit acts of fraud, and evade police capture.
Detective Constable Stuart Hosking, Police Central e-Crime Unit, said: “Woodham and Tobenhouse chose to abuse their computer skills causing a considerable amount of financial loss and anxiety to a number of innocent people. Woodham in particular has shown himself to be a vindictive hacker with no sign of remorse towards any of his victims.
“This case illustrates that internet crime is not victimless and that the Police Central e-Crime Unit will pursue perpetrators of such offences in support of victims, and to ensure they be held accountable for their actions.”