The world’s top five most notorious hi-tech scams

Jake Davis – aka Topiary - was arrested in 2011. He was linked to Anonymous and LulzSec hacktivists once dubbed the “most wanted cyber criminals on the planet”. They went on a highprofile hacking spree targeting News UK, Sony, the CIA, the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency, the Arizona police force and the FBI. He was arrested at his home in Shetland on suspicion of more than 80 charges of conspiracy. He pleaded guilty to two counts and was banned from doing anything on the Internet for two years.

TALKTALK were fined a record £400,000 for security failings that allowed a hacker to access sensitive customer data with ease in October 2015. An investigation found that, when it came to the basics of cyber security, TalkTalk were found wanting.

T ransonware was a worldwide attack that targeted computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system. The attack in May this year infected more than 230,000 computers in over 150 countries and disabled parts of the NHS, FedEx and Spain’s Telefonica.

HA Guardians of Peace leaked confidential data from Sony Pictures in November 2014, including personal information about employees and their families. The Guardians group demanded that Sony pull their comedy film The Interview, about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, and threatened terrorist attacks at cinemas screening the movie. Sony cancelled the premiere and cinema release. American intelligence officials alleged that the attack was sponsored by North Korea - who denied all responsibility.

an attack on the United States was the worst breach of American military computers in history. It started when a USB flash drive infected with a virus was put into a laptop that was attached to the US Central Command. It spread to other systems, both classified and unclassified. The Pentagon spent nearly 14 months cleaning the worm, named agent.btz, from military networks. It was suspected that Russian hackers were responsible. In order to try to stop the spread of the worm, the Pentagon banned USB drives.