TalkTalk hacker Elliott Gunton took cryptocurrency for stolen data
- Published
The court heard Elliott Gunton had the equivalent of £200,000 in a Bitcoin account
A teenager who hacked TalkTalk has been sentenced for stealing personal data in exchange for hundreds of thousands of pounds in cryptocurrency.
Elliott Gunton, 19, of Old Catton, near Norwich, was caught when his computer was seized during checks by police in April 2018.
He admitted five charges, including computer misuse and money laundering offences, at Norwich Crown Court.
He was jailed for 20 months and released due to time spent on remand.
He was also ordered to pay back £407,359 and given a three-and-a-half-year community order, which restricts his internet and software use.
'Crypto trader'
Gunton, of Longland Close, was found guilty of hacking the telecommunications firm when he was 16, the court was told at an earlier hearing.
Last year, officers made a routine visit to ensure he was complying with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order imposed by the court in 2016.
His computer revealed Gunton had offered to supply compromised personal data, including mobile phone numbers, for others to use for criminal purposes, such as intercepting calls and texts to commit fraud.
He also advertised his services in exchange for $3,000 (£2,469) in Bitcoin, rather than hard currency, in a bid to hide the payments from police.
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Norfolk Police said that despite Gunton taking "complex and sophisticated" measures to conceal and delete his activity, he had left fragments of conversations with others online where he discussed criminal activity.
Officers traced and seized £275,000 worth of cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, under his control.
Under a Twitter account, in which he described himself as a "full time crypto trader", Gunton tweeted in May last year: "Having lots of money is cool… but having lots of money without people knowing is cooler".
He also told a police officer who asked if he was working that he was dealing in shares and would soon be a millionaire.
Gunton was charged with breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, hacking offences and money laundering and for further hacking offences against an Australian Instagram account, to which he pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.
- Published2 April 2019
