Police quiz UK teen over TeamPoison attacks

published 11 May 2012

Police have arrested a 17-year-old boy from Newcastle who they suspect could be a member of prolific hacking group TeamPoison.

The boy was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with an alleged breach of the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

His arrest was the result of a joint investigation between The Police Central eCrime Unit (PCeU) and officers from the Northumberland Constabulary.

In a statement on the Metropolitan Police website, it is claimed the suspect could be a spokesperson for hacking group TeamPoison.

The group has claimed responsibility for more than 1,400 Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks and network breaches across the globe.

The group is credited with being the force behind last November's attack on the UN's web servers, which resulted in staff login details and passwords being leaked online.

"Enquiries continue between the PCeU and other relevant law enforcement agencies in this continuing and wide-ranging investigation," the statement added.

Caroline Donnelly is the news and analysis editor of IT Pro and its sister site Cloud Pro, and covers general news, as well as the storage, security, public sector, cloud and Microsoft beats. Caroline has been a member of the IT Pro/Cloud Pro team since March 2012, and has previously worked as a reporter at several B2B publications, including UK channel magazine CRN, and as features writer for local weekly newspaper, The Slough and Windsor Observer. She studied Medical Biochemistry at the University of Leicester and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism at PMA Training in 2006.