He Hacked, He Stole, He Gets no Prison Time

There seems to be no consistency in the court system for hackers.

Take the case of convicted British hacker Ryan Thompson. Thompson, 26, was sentenced to a six month suspended prison sentence at Warrington Crown Court last Friday. His crimes included hacking into the computers of unsuspecting internet users, many of whom were teenagers or young adults.

Thompson used a RAT ( Remote Access Trojan ) to hijack victims’ computers, grabbing passwords and personal account information, stealing files and commandeer their webcams. He purchased the RAT online for $30. He used the malware to target gamers and have them click on a dangerous link, often disguising the spyware as a cheat for users of gaming websites.

In one case of mischief, he hacked into a computer, found numerous pornographic images and demanded $5 to not expose the user.

In other parts of the world, Thompson would not have gotten off as easily. But his defense team argued that the young man was “naive and stupid” and inspired by a “geek-level interest in computers”.

Judge Tina Landale appears to have agreed that it was not in the best interests of anyone to send Thompson immediately to prison, but wanted to be sure that he understood the seriousness of his crimes:

“You committed a very serious offence across the world by installing a programme on your computer and bringing misery to many young people. I’m satisfied you did target young people because of the sites you used.”

Thompson has been fined £300 in costs, and ordered to carry out 280 hours of unpaid work.

Source: Hot For Security