Teenagers appear in court over TfL cyber attack

Thalha Jubair and Owen Flowers were charged with conspiring to commit unauthorised acts under the Computer Misuse Act

Two teenagers have appeared in court facing computer hacking charges, in connection with last year's cyber attack on Transport for London (TfL).

Thalha Jubair, 19, from east London, and Owen Flowers, 18, from Walsall in the West Midlands, were charged with conspiring to commit unauthorised acts under the Computer Misuse Act.

They appeared at a hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, and spoke only to confirm their names. Judge Tony Baumgartner scheduled a further hearing for 21 November, with a trial date set for 8 June 2026.

The cyber attack caused three months of disruption to TfL last year, and affected live Tube information, online journey history, and payments on the Oyster app.

The teenagers were arrested by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and City of London Police on 16 September, and were charged two days later.

The NCA said it believed the hack, which began on 31 August last year, was carried out by members of cyber-criminal group Scattered Spider.

TfL said the hack cost £39m in damage and disruption.

Following the hack, TfL wrote to around 5,000 customers to say there may have been unauthorised access to their personal information such as bank account numbers, emails and home addresses.