Two Hackers Jailed For 2015 TalkTalk Hack

Two Tamworth, Staffordshire men have been recently arrested and sent to prison for their roles in hacking one of the biggest UK-based telecommunications company, TalkTalk in 2015. 

Both Matthew Hanley, 23, and Connor Allsopp, 21, admitted that they were a part of the hack and breached more than 156,000 customers’ personal data, banking, and credit card credentials that cost TalkTalk £77 million in losses. The total cost also included a fine of £400,000 as the company failed to implement the most basic security measures to prevent the hack from happening.

In the complete TalkTalk hack, Matthew Hanley played the most critical role; he broke into the company’s website and flicked user data. Later, Matthew passed the data to Connor who sold it to another online user.

At the Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, Old Bailey, Judge Anuja Dhir QC sentenced Matthew for 12 months of imprisonment and Connor for eight months of imprisonment. The judge also said that it is a tragedy to find two individuals of such extraordinary talent, in the dock.

Furthermore, in the weeks following the TalkTalk breach, many teenage hackers were arrested for allegedly hacking and blackmailing the telecom company. Judge Anuja Dhir told the convicts that their actions and the actions of others resulted in the then-CEO of TalkTalk, Dido Harding being subjected to repeated attempts to blackmail. Even though they were not personally involved in making those attempts, however, their actions helped facilitate it.