Data breach cost $3.7m claims report

Lauri Love, arrested in Suffolk, has been released on bail until February

A major government computer data breach which led to the arrest of a British man has cost US authorities at least $3.7m (£2.2m), an audit report claims.

Lauri Love, 28, of Stradishall, Suffolk, was arrested in October over charges which include allegations he hacked the US Department of Energy (DoE) computers.

A report says personal information on 104,000 people could have been taken.

It says dealing with the fall out of this cost $3.7m.

The DoE special report on the July 2013 cyber security breach, by Inspector General Gregory Friedman, says $1.6m (£970,400) has been spent on establishing a call centre to deal with people affected by the data breach.

Gary McKinnon lawyer

Another $2.1m (£1.3m) was needed to pay for staffing to help correct the problems and deal with the aftermath.

The report concludes the department can rebuild trust by improving its cyber security.

Mr Love is accused of working with at least three others, who have not been named, with breaching the security of military, Nasa, Environmental Protection Agency and FBI computers.

The charges have all been filed in the US and no charges have been filed in the UK.

The US Department of Justice at Eastern Virginia says Mr Love faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted of all the charges.

His lawyer Karen Todner, who fought attempts to extradite UK computer hacker Gary McKinnon, said that if Mr Love was to face charges he should be tried in Britain.

He was arrested by British police in Suffolk and released on bail until February.