Facebook hacking case: 25-year-old bailed

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Judge bars accused from accessing internet as he faces charges of trying to penetrate social network's security

A 25-year-old man from York accused of attempting to hack into Facebook has been released on conditional bail.

Glenn Mangham, of Cornlands Road in York, appeared at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday morning charged with five counts under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 of attempting to "penetrate Facebook's security".

The alleged hack is not believed to be connected to the spate of recent attacks on websites by the computer hacking groups Anonymous and LulzSec.

Between 17 April and 9 May he is accused of downloading a computer program "to secure unauthorised access" to Facebook; of attempting to hack into Facebook's "Mailman" server; of using PHP script to secure access to another Facebook server, dubbed "Phabricator"; of sharing a PHP script intended to hack into that Facebook server; and of securing "repeated" access to another Facebook server.

It is not known what data Mangham is accused of accessing. The information commissioner's office, which investigates potential data breaches of this kind, said that Facebook had not reported any incident over this period.

Mangham, dressed in a black suit, white shirt and grey tie, was ordered not to access the internet as part of strict bail conditions before a committal hearing on 28 September. He was arrested by the Met police at his home in York on 2 June.

Evans told Mangham's parents that these are "serious allegations". He added: "These conditions are to minimise the risk of him going on the internet."

Later in court he said: "The court feels it will be safer if there was no access to the internet which will reduce the temptation for your son to go on to Facebook."

A spokeswoman for Facebook said: "While no user data was compromised, we have been working with Scotland Yard and the FBI as we take any attempt to hack our internal systems extremely seriously."

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• Hacking
• Facebook
• Internet

Josh Halliday

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Keith Stuart 17 Aug, 2011

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/aug/17/facebook-hacking-case
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