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UK Student Jailed For Facebook Hack Despite 'Ethical Hacking' Defense

Posted by Soulskill on from the judge-didn't-buy-it dept.

Diamonddavej writes "The BBC reports that software development student Glenn Mangham, a 26-year-old from the UK, was jailed 17 February 2012 for eight months for computer misuse, after he discovered serious Facebook security vulnerabilities. Hacking from his bedroom, Mangham gained access to three of Facebook's servers and was able to download to an external hard drive the social network's 'invaluable' intellectual property (source code). Mangham's defense lawyer, Mr. Ventham, pointed out that Mangham is an 'ethical hacker' and runs a tax registered security company. The court heard Mangham previously breached Yahoo's security, compiled a vulnerability report and passed on to Yahoo. He was paid '$7000 for this achievement,' and claims he was merely trying to repeat the same routine with Facebook. But in passing sentence, Judge Alistair McCreath said despite the fact he did not intend to pass on the information gathered, his actions were not harmless and had 'real consequences and very serious potential consequences' for Facebook. The case's prosecutor, Mr. Patel, said Facebook spent '$200,000 (£126,400) dealing with Mangham's crime.'"

4 of 356 comments (clear)

  1. Poor Yahoo by Dr.+Evil · · Score: 5, Funny

    "You accessed the very heart of the system of an international business of massive size, so this was not just fiddling about in the business records of some tiny business of no great importance," he said.

    ooo, that's got to hurt.

  2. Re:Judges from the 20th century have to go by Chas · · Score: 4, Funny

    Considering that most of the judge from the 21st century are, at most, 12, and not even lawyers, let alone judges, yet kinda makes this tough.

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  3. Re:Judges from the 20th century have to go by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    1. "Judges from the 20th century" is an expression, it means judges who don't comprehend modern technologies and values.

    2. Even if taken literally, a judge from the 21st century would be someone who was appointed a judge in this century, of which there are many.

    3. Considering your epic failure at intelligence, I'd say you're a complete waste of oxygen.

  4. Re:Uhh by RightSaidFred99 · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's literally nothing like that situation.

    He stole data. The holes weren't obvious or trivial. They now have to hope he didn't actually sell the data, or that someone didn't hack it from _him_.

    So other than every facet of the situation being totally different, I guess you're right it's similar other than that.