Police arrest 15-year-old in TalkTalk hack

The Metropolitan Police have announced an arrest in connection to the recent TalkTalk data breach. Law enforcement from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) have arrested a 15-year-old boy on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act offenses.

In a statement, Metropolitan Police said that officers from PSNI, working with detectives from the MPCCU (MET Cyber Crime Unit) executed a search warrant at an address in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

“At the address, a 15-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act offences. He has been taken into custody at a County Antrim police station where he will later be interviewed. A search of the address is ongoing and enquiries continue. This is a joint investigation by MPCCU detectives, the PSNI’s Cyber Crime Centre (CCC) and the National Crime Agency,” the statement added.

Last Friday, UK telecom TalkTalk has disclosed a possible breach, which could impact upwards of four million customers.

Those responsible for the attack likely compromised names, addresses, birthdays, phone numbers, email addresses, TalkTalk account information, credit card data, and banking information.

Soon after the disclosure, TalkTalk reported that someone claiming to be responsible for the attack demanded a ransom, but the company didn’t go into detail on the demand itself.

In local interviews in the UK and on BBC, TalkTalk CEO Dido Harding worked to assure customers and dismiss claims that full credit card details had been taken, and reports that customers had their bank accounts compromised as a result.

Online, TalkTalk customers vented and focused their rage on the company, which is dealing with yet another breach – by all accounts the third one this year.

The boy arrested today is still being processed. The investigation remains open and ongoing. In a statement, TalkTalk praised law enforcement, and said they will continue to cooperate with them.