A software development student from York who hacked into Facebook has been jailed for eight months.
Glenn Mangham, 26, admitted infiltrating the website from his bedroom in his parents’ house between April and May last year.
His actions were said to have risked destroying “the whole enterprise” and sparked fears among American authorities of industrial espionage.
Mangham, who admitted computer misuse offences on December 13, was also given a serious crime prevention order restricting his access to the internet and forfeiting his computer equipment.
Alison Saunders, from the Crown Prosecution Service, described the case as “the most extensive and flagrant incidence of social media hacking to be brought before British courts”.
Prosecutor Sandip Patel rejected Mangham’s claims, saying: “He acted with determination, undoubted ingenuity and it was sophisticated, it was calculating.”
Facebook spent $200,000 (£126,400) dealing with Mangham’s crime, which triggered a “concerted, time-consuming and costly investigation” by the FBI and British law enforcement, Mr Patel said.
He told Southwark Crown Court in London how Mangham had “unlawfully accessed and hacked into the social media website Facebook and its computers in April to May last year from his bedroom in Yorkshire” and had ultimately stolen “invaluable” intellectual property, which he downloaded on to an external hard drive.
He added: “This represents the most extensive and grave incident of social media hacking to be brought before the British courts.”
A spokesperson for Facebook said they “applauded” the work of the police and Crown Prosecution Service in this case, “which did not involve any compromise of personal user data”.
They added: “We take any attempt to gain unauthorised access to our network very seriously, and we work closely with law enforcement authorities to ensure that offenders are brought to justice.”
