Teenage hacker behind 1.7m cyber-attacks faces jail

A TEENAGE hacker who made £300,000 from selling a computer programme that was used for more than 1.7 million cyber attacks around the world is facing jail.

Student Adam Mudd, 19, pleaded guilty to three offences at the Old Bailey in London. The teenager, of Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, created a “stressor” tool from his bedroom, which was used by other cyber-criminals around the world.

He sold access to the program, which allowed people to crash websites and computers by overloading them with requests. Analysis of the tool showed that it had been used in more than 1.7 million denial of service attacks worldwide between September 2013 and March last year.

Before he even reached the age of 18 Mudd is thought to have made more than £300,000 from the program. During interviews he admitted security breaches against his own college, where he studied computer science.

Mudd carried out 594 attacks against 181 individual IP addresses between December 2013 and March 2015.

Detective Inspector Martin Peters said: “My team has learnt a lot from this complex investigation, due to the nature of the criminality, the sheer volume of data and the global reach of the £300,000 offending.” He added: “Adam Mudd’s case is a regrettable one, because this young man clearly has a lot of skill, but he has been utilising that talent for personal gain at the expense of others.”

Mudd pleaded guilty to two offences under the Computer Misuse Act and a further offence of money laundering under the Proceeds of Crime Act. He will be sentenced in December.