A 19-year-old man from Bangor has been sentenced at Laganside Court today, Wednesday 1st February, following computer misuse offences in 2018.
Josh Maunder, who was 15 when the offences occurred, was sentenced to 20 months suspended after pleading guilty to 19 counts, which included multiple offences of unauthorised act with intent/ reckless to impair operation of computer, supplying an article for use in the offence of computer misuse, making an article intending it to be used for computer misuse and possession for articles for use in frauds.
Detective Sergeant McCarragher said: “Today’s sentencing is the result of a complex investigation into a vast range of cyber-attacks with a domestic and international dimension by investigators and technical officers from the Police Service's Cyber Crime team.
“In this case, the Defendant was involved in targeting and crashing a vast range of websites worldwide, including a gaming company causing a substantial loss, a financial company, numerous police public information websites, a human rights group and also had involvement in organising an orchestrated Cyber-attack on a pay-per-view celebrity boxing event.
“Further to this, he was in possession of malicious software and managed an online community of peers engaged in prolific computer misuse offences which was also successfully impacted by the investigation.
“This should send a clear message to those involved in this type of crime that they will be vigorously pursued and brought before the courts to face the consequences of such activity.”