Teenager accused of hacking into police's organised crime agency
A teenager appeared in court today charged with hacking into websites belonging to the police, the NHS, The Sun and Sony.
Jake Davis, 18, is alleged to have had 750,000 people's personal details on his computer system when he was arrested at his home in the Shetland Islands. He spoke only to confirm his name and address, and was granted conditional bail at City of Westminster magistrates' court.
Davis left court wearing jeans, a black T-shirt, denim shirt and sunglasses and carrying a book entitled Free Radicals: The Secret Anarchy of Science.
Davis was arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service's e-crime unit as part of an investigation into hacking groups LulzSec and Anonymous.
The alleged hacker is said to have used the online alias "Topiary" and to have presented himself as a spokesman for the two groups.
He faces five charges, including conspiring to carry out a distributed denial of service attack on the Serious Organised Crime Agency by flooding it with emails, gaining unauthorised access to a computer system, encouraging or assisting offences and conspiring to commit offences.
He is accused of hacking into the websites of News International titles, including The Times and The Sun, allegedly creating a bogus story.
He is also alleged to have been involved in hacking the East London NHS Foundation Trust's website and Sony's offices in San Diego.
When the computer console giant was targeted by hackers this year, personal details of hundreds of thousands of users, including credit card numbers were taken. The teenager, whose mother attended court today, was bailed to an address in Spalding, Lincolnshire, where she lives.
District Judge Howard Riddle also imposed a curfew from 10pm to 7am, ordering Davis to wear an electronic tag. He told the teenager he was not allowed to access the internet through a computer or mobile phone, either himself or by asking someone to do it for him.
Davis will next appear at Southwark crown court on 30 August.
