Norwich teen sentenced to 20 months in prison for hacking

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A 19-year-old from Mounteney Close, located in Norwich, was sentenced to 20 months in prison after being found guilty of supplying online personal data from systems he hacked as well as other crimes. In addition, Elliot Gunton, 19, was ordered to pay back £400,000 ($486,000).

In April 2018, Gunton’s laptop was seized by law enforcement officials. At that time, it was determined that he was using software that enabled him to commit these cybercrime offenses. The discovery of the laptop was made during a Sexual Harm Prevention Order that was imposed against him in June 2016 as part of a prior group of offenses for which he was found guilty.

During the search, law enforcement officials found the personal data of individuals. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the 19-year-old was hiring out his services, reportedly requiring payment be made in SegWitCoin (BTC). According to the report, police discovered that he was accepting $3000 in BTC for blackhat hacking services and access to compromised data. Police were also able to seize £275,000 ($335,000) in BTC cryptocurrency that was under his control.

In a statement issued by Detective Sgt. Mark Stratford, he explained, at the time, that “Gunton was exploiting the personal data of innocent businesses and people in order to make a considerable profit, but he did not succeed in hiding all of his ill-gotten gains, which enabled us to seize hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of Bitcoin.”

After the arrest, law enforcement officials continued to monitor his traffic and conversations. This allowed them to seize the £275,000 ($335,000) as well as to nab some of his associates, both those who had worked with him in the past as well as future clients.

In addition to hacking charges, Gunton was charged with money laundering and breaching his Sexual Harassment Prevention Order. After being arrested, the teen confessed to hacking crimes against accounts on the social media platform Instagram as well.

Besides paying the fine and being sentenced to prison time, Gunton will serve a Community Behavioral Order that will last three and a half years after his release. This includes the condition that he is not allowed to own or use any device that is capable of accessing the Internet unless he is approved and monitored by law enforcement officials. He is also restricted from using any form of private browsing or any virtual private network, and barred from using any cryptocurrency storage address, software wallet, hardware wallet, or cryptocurrency exchange unless first gaining approval from law enforcement officials.