Student from Stockport who carried out international cyber attacks avoids prison.
He used a technique which slowed down computer networks
Last updated 19th Dec 2017
A student who carried out a string of international cyber attacks has walked free from court.
Jack Chappell, 19, of Stockport, committed distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, which involve the deliberate bombarding of a computer network with excessive data to crash or slow down its websites.
He taunted one of his victims, a Government supported educational network, after taking their services offline when he tweeted #GetBetterProtection and down again?''
The Manchester College student also targeted that institution's network when he was due to submit an assignment online.
Investigators eventually traced those attacks to Chappell's home computer and went on to discover that he had been acting as administrator for a website which launched many thousands of DDoS attacks against high profile targets internationally.
But Manchester Minshull Crown Street heard he was exploited'' by thecriminally sophisticated'' owners of the vDos site - based in Israel - and only received a token payment of ÂŁ1,500 from activities which generated more than ÂŁ600,000 in income.
Chappell had recently been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum and was particularly vulnerable to exploitation''.
His barrister, Stuart Kaufman, even compared him to the character played by Dustin Hoffman in the 1980s hit film Rain Man, who wins a fortune at blackjack by counting cards.
Mr Kaufman said: It's not him, but it gives you a little bit of a flavour ... he has been manipulated. He is in many ways just as much a victim. He has been totally exploited and abused.
He is not a person who is malicious. He is mischievous.''
Sentencing Chappell to a 16-month detention and training order in a young offender institution - suspended for two years - Judge Maurice Greene told him: You played an important role over a long period of time and there is a considerable public interest in the disruption and harm that DDoS attacks cause to businesses and members of the public.
Clearly it is a very serious offence.
But at the time you were 16 or 17 and I have to discount any sentencing because of your age at the time.
You are of positive good character. It is a tragedy to see somebody of your undoubted talents before the court.
Looking at your history it is clearly evident when you were young you were socially isolated
You were undoubtedly taken advantage of by those more criminally sophisticated than yourself.''
The court heard that a psychologist who wrote a report for the court on the defendant said he was one of the most talented people he knew in the field of computing, which was some feat'' considering he shared an office with climate scientists who report to the United Nations.
Chappell has gained a BTEC in computer programming, was undergoing various treatment and counselling, and was said by the author of his pre-sentence report to be making substantial progress''.
He pleaded guilty at earlier hearings to various charges dating from May 2015 to April 2016, including carrying out unauthorised acts with intent to impair the operation of computers, conspiracy to commit the same offence, and money laundering