TalkTalk hacker Daniel Kelley, who tried to blackmail company boss, jailed for four years
Kelley will serve the sentence in a young offenders' institution
Daniel Kelley, a cybercriminal who took part in the high-profile attack on mobile network TalkTalk, has been sentenced to four years' detention.
Kelley, 22, from Llanelli, South Wales, was sentenced at the Old Bailey by Judge Mark Dennis. Judge Dennis said that Kelley carried out hacking "for his own personal gratification" and did not consider the damage caused by his acts.
He even blackmailed company heads, revealing the "cruel" side of his character, the judge added.
The 22-year-old pleaded guilty to 11 hacking-related charges in 2016. One of his offences included the attack in which personal details of more than 150,000 people was stolen. Since pleading guilty to offences, Kelley claims to have suffered extreme weight loss, depression, and Asperger's syndrome.
Kelley became a "black hat" hacker in his college days after he failed to get the required GCSE grades to earn a place on a computer course.
He was just 16 when he hacked the computer network of his college, Coleg Sir Gar, out of revenge, causing disruption to teaching staff as well as students.
Later, he targeted multiple companies in the UK, Canada, and Australia.
He carried out a large number of hacking activities between September 2013 and November 2015.
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He attacked TalkTalk's network in 2015 and stole bank details and email addresses of customers. He even tried to blackmail the company's former CEO Dido Harding and other executives, demanding payment in Bitcoin.
TalkTalk estimated total loss incurred to the company from multiple hackers at around £77 million.
Although Kelley sought to hide his identity and location, but investigators were nevertheless able to identify and eventually arrest him.
Despite attacking half-a-dozen organisations, Kelly received just £4,400 worth of Bitcoin in payment, although he had made demands for around £115,000.
When he was arrested, police recovered from his laptop files containing details of thousands of credit cards.
Dean George QC appealed to the court not to impose jail sentence to Kelley as he now suffered with severe depression.
"Kelley is a prolific and ruthless cybercriminal and blackmailer who caused considerable damage, distress, harm and loss to victims worldwide," said acting detective sergeant Rob Burrows, the Metropolitan Police's Cyber Crime Unit Officer in the case and the lead investigator.
"From 2013 to 2015, Kelley embarked on a crime spree online for his own financial gain showing no remorse and was a high risk to the public and businesses."
"His convictions and sentencing today send out a clear message to cyber criminals committing crime anonymously online they will be identified, arrested and prosecuted for their destructive crimes. I encourage all victims of cybercrime to report incidents to Action Fraud."
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