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Tag: BPAS

  • BPAS Hacker Confesses to Stealing over 9,000 Records

    The hacker who broke into the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) has plead guilty to violating the UK Computer Misuse Act in a London Court today.

    Jeffrey admitted to gaining unauthorized access to data and a computer with the intention of compromising its operation.

    James Jeffrey stole over 9,000 personal records on on March 8th from BPAS and compromised the confidentiality of people who contacted BPAS to inquire about information and services regarding STDs, testing, sterilization, abortion, and other women’s health services.

    The 27 year old was brought before Westminster Magistrates court in London after he attempted to break into BPAS’s site 26,000 times within a six hour period. He plead guilty to the offense and accepted responsibility for defacing the website with an image of Anonymous.

    On Friday we covered the details of Jeffrey’s arrest in an article that I posted on Friday. Jeffrey was arrested by the Metropolitan police at his home in Wednesbury, West Midlands last week after “he boasted of breaking into the BPAS by tweeting details of the exploit, including the login for the BPAS sysadmin, under the name Pablo Escobar.”

    According to The Inquirer, BPAS stated that the incident was an extreme example of how anti-abortion activity has been becoming more agressive in its efforts to target abortion providers. Prosecutors told the court Jeffery targeted the BPAS website after two women he knew had terminations.

    Judge Daphne Wickham described him as a “zealot with an anti-abortion campaign” and refused to grant Jeffrey bail, saying that he was an “able hacker” who could target other organizations.

    Jeffery remains in custody and will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court at a later date.

  • UK Hacker Arrested, Accused of Trying to Retrieve Info of Women Who Received Abortions

    Today the Scotland Yard arrested a 27-year-old who claims to have links to the hacktivist group, Anonymous, on suspicion of offences under the Computer Misuse Act. The Metropolitan police’s central e-crime unit was granted a search warrant for the suspect’s home in Wednesbury, West Midlands prior to making the arrest.

    The culprit is accused of trying to break into the British Pregnancy Advisory Service’s (BPAS) website, extract information about women who had received abortions, and possibly release the names of the women.

    According to BPAS, there were approximately 26,000 attempts to break into its website over a six hour period on Thursday. At this point BPAS has not confirmed that any medical or personal information of the women who had received treatment was accessed.

    Police have stated that data on the website was compromised but explained that the stolen data did not contain any medical details of women who had received treatment.

    The data that was stolen did contain personal information (names, addresses and phone numbers) from people who had inquired about resources and services from BPAS relating to contraception, pregnancy, abortion, STI testing and sterilisation.

    Detective Inspector Mark Raymond from the Met’s e-crime unit said: “We have taken rapid action to identify and arrest a suspect involved in hacking. This was done to prevent personal details of people who had requested information from the BPAS website being made public. It should be stressed that the stolen data did not contain the medical details of women who had received treatment or why individuals had contacted the British Pregnancy Advisory Service.”

    To prevent the publication of such data BPAS has been granted a court injunction and all proper legal channels are being employed to protect all potential and current patients’ information.

    The suspect is currently in custody at a West Midlands police station.