Oxbridge Hack Attacks Suspect Charged With 17 Offences

A man accused of hack attacks on the websites of Oxford and Cambridge universities has been charged with 17 offences, including ones of data theft.

Lewys Martin, a 20-year-old from Kent, is to appear at Maidstone Magistrates court on 20 December, where he will face charges relating to a hit on the Kent Police website too.

A spokesperson for the force told TechWeekEurope he did not successfully take down its site, however. “No data was stolen, it was not a hacking attempt, it was an attempt to take down the website. It was unsuccessful,” they said.

Hack attacks

Amongst the 17 charges are eight of “unauthorised acts with intent to impair operation of or prevent/hinder access to a computer”. He is also accused of failing to disclose passwords to encrypted equipment.

Martin is already in prison for burglary offences. The latest charges facing him came after an investigation by Kent Police’s Special Branch Investigations Team, along with the Kent Police Digital Forensic Unit.

Both Oxford and Cambridge have suffered hack attacks this year. TechWeekEurope exclusively revealed in August that the University of Oxford beefed up its security after a group claiming to be associated with Anonymous hacked the educational institution. A Department of Physics-owned server was compromised.

That same month, NullCrew, a hacktivist group, said the University of Cambridge’s email service was compromised.

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