Teen found guilty of sending bomb hoaxes

A 16-year-old boy has been convicted at Plymouth Youth Court of a number of computer related offences (6th July).

The boy from Plymouth has been convicted of three offences under the Computer Misuse Act relating to Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, and two offences under the Criminal Law Act relating to the communication of bomb threats.

This conviction results from an investigation undertaken by the South West Regional Cyber Crime Unit (SWRCCU) supported by Devon and Cornwall Police. The SWRCCU forms part of Zephyr, the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit, and investigates serious incidents of cyber crime.

DDoS attacks generally involve the sending of large quantities of data to specific websites, causing them to crash. Amongst the websites targeted in this case were those belonging to Devon and Cornwall Police and Sea World, Florida, as well as a range of other foreign governmental and non-governmental websites.

The teenager also issued bomb threats via Twitter to both American Airlines and Delta Airlines, which led to disruption to services at both airlines.

Detective Sergeant Aled Jones from SWRCCU said: “Today’s conviction is the result of a lengthy and wide ranging investigation into the online activities of this individual. This result demonstrates that these types of offences are taken seriously and that we do have the capability to identify arrest and prosecute those responsible.

“In this case we worked closely with law enforcement colleagues both in Devon and Cornwall Police and the USA, as well as with the Crown Prosecution Service to present a compelling case to the Court.

“I hope that this case will serve to dissuade other like-minded people from engaging in similar criminal activity.”