Hacker Sentenced for Cyber Attack on Former Employer
A hacker who targeted a Warwickshire company causing significant disruption and financial loss has been sentenced.
Desai was arrested as part of an investigation by the Regional Cyber Crime Unit for the West Midlands area.
During the police investigation into the attacks against the company Desai used to work for, police searched his home and seized his computer.
Police found he had illegally accessed the systems on several occasions in 2017, on one occasion causing significant disruption to the company’s operations.
On 18 April 2018, Desai pleaded guilty to one count of gaining unauthorised access to a network with intent to commit further offences and one count of committing unauthorised acts with the intent to impair the operation of a computer within a network.
On Friday Desai was given a 15 month prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered to pay £20,000 compensation to the company and costs of £1800.
Speaking following the conviction, Detective Constable Mark Bird from the Regional Cyber Crime Unit, said: “Cyber crimes of this type are a growing problem and here at the Regional Cyber Crime Unit we have a range of skilled investigators trying to stay one step ahead of the criminals.
“These types of crimes aren’t victimless; they cause financial and reputational harm to businesses and ultimately their customers.”