Image copyright PA Image caption Gamble made no reaction as he was sentenced but his mother wept in the well of the court

A teenager who tricked his way into obtaining the email and phone accounts of senior US intelligence officials has been sentenced.

Kane Gamble, 18, targeted CIA, FBI and US Department of Justice databases from his bedroom in Leicestershire.

The Old Bailey was told Gamble, who has admitted a number of charges, damaged the "effectiveness" of the wider law enforcement community.

He will serve two years at a youth detention centre.

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His defence said he was "naive" and never meant to "harm" any individuals.

But the judge, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave said Gamble ran a "campaign of cyber terrorism".

Gamble obtained "extremely sensitive" documents on military and intelligence operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the court was told.

Image copyright PA Image caption Using a computer in his bedroom, Gamble accessed and released thousands of security staff details

Between June 2015 and February 2016, he targeted the former CIA chief John Brennan and FBI deputy director Mark Giuliano from his home in Linford Crescent, Coalville.

The judge was told he impersonated his victims and conned call centres into divulging confidential information.

He then sent emails from agents' accounts and accessed sensitive military information.

Gamble also leaked some of the information he gathered using various websites including WikiLeaks.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Gamble targeted the former director of the CIA John Brennan

The court was told Gamble uploaded details of 20,000 FBI employees obtained from the US Department of Justice, with the message "This is for Palestine".

He bragged "this is so serious I'm shaking" and "this has to be the biggest hack ever".

He even managed to use the TV in the house of then US Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson to post the message "I own you".

The teenager also left a disturbing voicemail message for Mr Johnson's wife, Susan DiMarco asking "hi spooky, am I scaring you?".

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Kane Gamble posted the message "I own you" on Jeh Johnson's home TV

Gamble - the founder of hacking group, Crackas With Attitude (CWA) - pleaded guilty in October to 10 charges.

Prosecutor, John Lloyd-Jones QC highlighted the level of sophistication and persistence in the attacks, as well as the damage caused.

Defending, William Harbage QC said Gamble, who is on the autistic spectrum, was "naive" and "childish" and his actions were a response to what he had read about in online chat rooms about US policy.

Mr Harbage said the teen thought he could get them to change "as a result of what he was doing from his bedroom".

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Gamble accessed the home phone and internet of James Clapper, ex-Director of National Intelligence

Mr Harbage had argued for a suspended sentence, saying Gamble was due to sit GCSEs in June and hoped to read computer studies at university and pursue a "useful" career.

Gamble made no reaction as he was sentenced but his mother wept in the well of the court.

Judge Haddon-Cave ordered the seizure of his computers.</s>LONDON — A British teenager has been jailed for two years for compromising the email and phone accounts of senior U.S. government officials in what a judge called acts of “cyber-terrorism.”

Prosecutors say that in 2015-16, Kane Gamble conned call centres into revealing information that got him into the accounts of then-FBI director Mark Giuliano, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, then-CIA chief John Brennan and other top officials.

They say Gamble, who was part of a group of hackers called “Crackas With Attitude,” leaked some of the information he gathered online.

The 18-year-old was sentenced Friday at London’s Central Criminal Court to two years in youth detention.

Judge Charles Haddon-Cave said his “nasty campaign of politically motivated cyber-terrorism” had left victims feeling violated.</s>Eighteen-year-old hacker Kane Gamble was sentenced to two years in a youth detention facility at London's Old Bailey, the central criminal court for England and Wales.

The British youth had admitted to successfully targeting several top intelligence officials during the Obama era, including then-chief of the CIA, John Brennan, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and Obama's deputy national security adviser, Avril Haines. Gamble was 15 and 16 years old at the time.

The prosecutors said Gamble was motivated by his support for the Palestinians and his anger of the US "killing innocent civilians."

On Friday, judge Charles Haddon-Cave described the hacks as an "extremely nasty campaign of politically motivated cyber terrorism."

"The victims would have felt seriously violated," the judge said, adding that Gamble had "reveled" in the attacks.

From his bedroom in Coalville, in England's East Midlands region, Gamble used the tactic known as "social engineering," gathering information available online to impersonate other people, and then use their identity to gain further information from help desks, call centers, and other sources.

Gamble managed to access private email and iCloud accounts of CIA head Brennan and take control of his wife's iPad. He also harvested data on sensitive US operations in Afghanistan and Iran.

He also used the method to listen to voicemail messages of former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and harass his wife. He also managed to get the message "I own you" to appear on the couple's home television.

In another hacking effort, Gamble redirected phone calls made to ex-US intelligence director Clapper to the Free Palestine Movement.

Gamble, who is one of the founders of hacking group "Crackas with Attitude", gradually gained access to US law enforcement and intelligence networks and shared some of the information through WikiLeaks and Twitter.

He was arrested at his home last February at an FBI request.</s>UK teen jailed for two years for targeting CIA chief's phone from his bedroom

A British teenager has been sentenced to two years in a youth detention centre for compromising the email and phone accounts of senior US government officials in what a judge called acts of "cyber terrorism".

Prosecutors say Kane Gamble conned call centres during 2015-16 into revealing information that got him into the accounts of then-FBI director Mark Giuliano, then-secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson, then-CIA chief John Brennan and other officials.

They say Gamble, who was part of a group of hackers called Crackas With Attitude, leaked some of the information he gathered using websites such as WikiLeaks.

The BBC said he targeted the databases from his bedroom in Leicestershire, and even managed to use the TV in the house of Mr Johnson to post the message "I own you".

He also left a voice message for Mr Johnson's wife, asking "Hi spooky, am I scaring you?".

The court heard he obtained "extremely sensitive" documents on military and intelligence operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and uploaded details of 20,000 FBI employees, with the message "This is for Palestine".

Gamble pleaded guilty last year. The 18-year-old was sentenced to youth custody on Friday in a London criminal court.

His defence said he was "naive" and never meant to "harm" any individuals, the BBC reported.

But Judge Charles Haddon-Cave said his "nasty campaign of politically motivated cyber-terrorism" had left victims feeling violated, and ordered the seizure of his computers.</s>A BRITISH TEENAGER who accessed the email accounts of top US intelligence and security officials including the head of the CIA was sentenced to two years in prison today.

Kane Gamble, 18, founder of Crackas With Attitude, will serve his sentence in a youth detention facility.

“This was an extremely nasty campaign of politically motivated cyber terrorism,” judge Charles Haddon-Cave said at the sentencing at London’s Old Bailey criminal court.

“The victims would have felt seriously violated,” Haddon-Cave said, adding that Gamble had “revelled” in the attacks.

Gamble was accompanied by his mother in court.

He was 15 and 16 when, from his bedroom in Coalville, central England, he managed to impersonate his targets to get passwords and gain highly sensitive information.

He impersonated then Central Intelligence Agency chief John Brennan in calls to the telecom companies Verizon and AOL.

Several sensitive documents were reportedly obtained from Brennan’s private email inbox and Gamble managed to get information about military and intelligence operations in Iran and Afghanistan.

“It also seems he was able to successfully access Mr Brennan’s iCloud account,” prosecutor John Lloyd-Jone said earlier.

Gamble called AOL and initiated a password reset, and took control of the iPad of Brennan’s wife.

Gamble also targeted then US secretary of homeland security Jeh Johnson and made calls to his phone number.

He left Johnson’s wife a voicemail saying “Am I scaring you?” and managed to get a message to appear on the family television saying: “I own you”.

Other targets included then US president Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser Avril Haines, his senior science and technology adviser John Holdren, and FBI special agent Amy Hess.

Gamble gained extensive unauthorised access to the US Department of Justice network and was able to access court case files, including on the Deepwater oil spill.

The British teenager gave some of the material he managed to access to WikiLeaks and boasted that he had a list of all Homeland Security employees.

Gamble was arrested at his home on February 9 last year at the request of the FBI.

He claimed he was motivated to act out of support for the Palestinians, and due to the United States “killing innocent civilians”, the prosecutor said.</s>LONDON * A British teenager who accessed the e-mail accounts of top US intelligence and security officials, including the head of the CIA, has been sentenced to two years in prison.

Kane Gamble, 18, founder of Crackas With Attitude, will serve his sentence in a youth detention facility.

''This was an extremely nasty campaign of politically motivated cyber terrorism,'' Judge Charles Haddon-Cave said during sentencing at London's Old Bailey criminal court last Friday.

Gamble was accompanied by his mother in court.

Operating from his bedroom in Coalville, central England, he managed to impersonate his targets to get passwords and gain highly sensitive information over about two years starting from age 15.

He impersonated then Central Intelligence Agency chief John Brennan in calls to telecom companies Verizon and AOL.

Several sensitive documents were reportedly obtained from Mr Brennan's private e-mail inbox and Gamble managed to get information about military and intelligence operations in Iran and Afghanistan.

Gamble also targeted then American secretary of homeland security Jeh Johnson and made calls to his phone number.

Others targeted: president Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser Avril Haines, his senior science and technology adviser John Holdren, and FBI special agent Amy Hess.

Gamble was arrested at his home on Feb 9 last year at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

He claimed he was motivated to act out of support for the Palestinians, and due to the US ''killing innocent civilians'', prosecutors said.</s>A British teenager who pleaded guilty to hacking high-ranking Obama administration officials has been handed a sentence of two years at a youth detention center.

Kane Gamble, 18, learned his fate in a London court Friday nearly three years after he started an international hacking spree that claimed victims including the former heads of CIA and Department of Homeland Security.

Starting when he was just 15, Gamble committed a slew of hacks targeting American victims that the presiding judge described during Friday’s sentencing hearing as an “extremely nasty campaign of politically motivated cyber terrorism,” The Guardian reported.

Gamble’s crimes include compromising the personal email account of then-CIA Director John Brennan and stealing correspondence subsequently published by WikiLeaks; hacking into a television installed at the home of then-DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson; and harassing the family of Mark Giuliano, the FBI’s former second-in-command.

Gamble was arrested in 2016 and pleaded guilty last year to 10 counts of illegal hacking, but his identity and information about the case were withheld until after he turned 18 last October.

The teenage hacker successfully compromised “extremely sensitive” U.S. documents, including material regarding military and intelligence operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to prosecutor John Lloyd-Jones.

Defense attorney William Harbage portrayed Gamble as an ideological teenager who hoped to effect change with his exploits, U.K. media reported.

“In a naive, immature and childish way, he thought he could do something about it, he could make a nuisance of himself by targeting people in America and that would somehow get them to change US policy as a result of what he was doing from his bedroom,” said Mr. Harbage, according to The Guardian.

Gamble had boasted online about his exploits using the alias “Cracka,” and claimed to be a founding member of “Crackas With Attitude,” a hacking group that together targeted several high-ranking U.S. officials, according to the Department of Justice.

Two North Carolina residents, Justin Liverman and Andrew Boggs, last year received 60- and 24-month federal prison sentences, respectively, for convictions related to their involvement in Crackas With Attitude. Combined the hackers claimed at least 10 victims and caused about $1.5 million in damages, according to the Justice Department.

The Washington Times is switching its third-party commenting system from Disqus to Spot.IM. You will need to either create an account with Spot.im or if you wish to use your Disqus account look under the Conversation for the link "Have a Disqus Account?". Please read our The Washington Times is switching its third-party commenting system from Disqus to Spot.IM. You will need to either create an account with Spot.im or if you wish to use your Disqus account look under the Conversation for the link "Have a Disqus Account?". Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.</s>A teenager who blagged his way into the email and phone accounts of senior US intelligence officials has damaged the 'effectiveness' of the wider law enforcement community, a court has heard.

Kane Gamble, 18, founder of Crackas With Attitude (CWA), got his hands on 'extremely sensitive' documents on military and intelligence operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Old Bailey was told.

Between June 2015 and February 2016, he targeted high-profile figures such as then-CIA chief John Brennan and FBI deputy director Mark Giuliano from his family home on a Leicestershire housing estate.

Rather than hacking their accounts, he impersonated his victims and conned call centres at communications giants Comcast and Verizon into divulging confidential information.

Last October, Gamble, of Linford Crescent, Coalville, pleaded guilty to eight charges of performing a function with intent to secure unauthorised access to computers and two charges of unauthorised modification of computer material.

The teenager, who was aged 15 and 16 at the time, appeared at the Old Bailey to be sentenced, supported by his mother.

Prosecutor John Lloyd-Jones QC said aggravating features included the 'invasion' of victims' professional and private lives as well as their families.

He highlighted the level of sophistication and persistence in the attacks as well as the damage caused.

He said: 'So many of the American witnesses attest to a drop in confidence in the use of portals, many of the agencies withdrawing their contributions, reducing the effectiveness in the wider law enforcement community in America.'

Mitigating, William Harbage QC described Gamble's actions as a naive response to what he read about in online chat rooms.

'In a naive, immature and childish way, he thought he could do something about it, he could make a nuisance of himself by targeting people in America and that would somehow get them to change US policy as a result of what he was doing from his bedroom.'

He said the defendant never meant to 'harm and traumatise people on an individual basis'.

He added: 'When members of the families were brought into it, he did not think through the consequences. The thought seems to have been 'I want to grab attention of the US government and getting the families involved is some way that will grab attention even more'.'

The teenager targeted a Comcast cable TV and broadband account belonging to James Clapper, director of national intelligence under President Barack Obama.

Other victims included Mr Obama's deputy national security adviser, Avril Haines; his senior science and technology adviser, John Holdren; the then secretary of homeland security, Jeh Johnson; and FBI special agent Amy Hess.

Gamble used a TV in Mr Johnson's family home to post the message 'I own you'.

He leaked some of the information he gathered using various websites including WikiLeaks.

Gamble, who was said to have an autistic spectrum disorder, will be sentenced by Mr Justice Haddon-Cave.

Guidelines put the maximum sentence at two years' detention and training if Gamble had been dealt with at the time of the offence.

The prosecution has asked for a serious crime prevention order and the confiscation of Gamble's computers and iPhone.</s>A British teenager who gained notoriety for hacking a number of high profile United States government employees including former CIA director John Brennan and former director of intelligence James Clapper was sentenced Friday to two years in prison.

Eighteen-year-old Kane Gamble pleaded guilty to 10 separate charges, including eight counts of “performing a function with intent to secure unauthorized access” and two counts of “unauthorized modification of computer material,” the Guardian reported.



Gamble, otherwise known by his online alias Cracka, was 15 at the time that he started his hacking campaigns. The alleged leader of a hacking group known as Crackas With Attitude (CWA), Gamble made it a point to target members of the US government. According to the Telegraph, he once told a journalist, “It all started by me getting more and more annoyed about how corrupt and cold-blooded the US government are so I decided to do something about it.”

The young hacker’s group managed to successfully gain access to ex-CIA director John Brennan’s AOL email account. A member of CWA told Motherboard at the time that breaking into the account was “not hard at all” and that “a five-year-old could do it.”

The group hacked a number of accounts belonging to former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, including his personal email, his wife’s email, and his phone and internet provider account. The hackers allegedly made it so every call to Clapper’s home phone would get forwarded to the Free Palestine Movement.

A third victim of CWA, Amy Hess, served as the executive assistant director of the FBI’s Science and Technology branch. The Leicester Mercury reported she had her internet service provider account hijacked by the hackers, which they allegedly used to download several movies including Hackers, V for Vendetta, and a pornographic film.



According to the Guardian, Gamble and his associates also targeted Mark Giuliano, a former deputy director of the FBI; Avril Haines, a deputy national security adviser to Barack Obama; and John Holdren, Obama’s senior science and technology adviser.

Over the course of the hacking campaign, Gamble and other members of CWA got their hands on a number of sensitive documents that contained information about military and intelligence operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The group also published the contact information of more than 2,000 federal and local law enforcement agents.



While Gamble claimed in court that he was “naive” and never intended to harm any of his victims, the judge wasn’t buying it. According to the BBC, the judge described Gamble’s hacking efforts as “an extremely nasty campaign of politically-motivated cyber terrorism” and called Gamble the leader of a “cyber gang.”

Despite claims that Gamble has turned a new leaf and has already attempted to make good use of his technical knowledge by disclosing potentially dangerous security bugs to companies, the judge sentenced the teen to two years at a youth detention center.



Gamble got off easier than one of his cohorts. Last year, a member of CWA based in the US was sentenced to five years in prison by a federal judge.</s>A teenager who tricked his way into obtaining the email and phone accounts of senior US intelligence officials has been sentenced.

Kane Gamble, 18, targeted CIA, FBI and US Department of Justice databases from his bedroom in Leicestershire.

The Old Bailey was told Gamble, who has admitted a number of charges, damaged the "effectiveness" of the wider law enforcement community.

He will serve two years at a youth detention centre.

His defence said he was "naive" and never meant to "harm" any individuals.

But the judge, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave said Gamble ran a "campaign of cyber terrorism".

Gamble obtained "extremely sensitive" documents on military and intelligence operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the court was told.

Between June 2015 and February 2016, he targeted the former CIA chief John Brennan and FBI deputy director Mark Giuliano from his home in Linford Crescent, Coalville.

The judge was told he impersonated his victims and conned call centres into divulging confidential information.

He then sent emails from agents' accounts and accessed sensitive military information.

The court was also told Gamble uploaded details of 20,000 FBI employees obtained from the US Department of Justice, with the message "This is for Palestine".

He even managed to use the TV in the house of then US Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson to post the message "I own you".

Gamble - the founder of hacking group, Crackas With Attitude (CWA) - pleaded guilty in October to eight charges of performing a function with intent to secure unauthorised access to computers and two charges of unauthorised modification of computer material.

Prosecutor John Lloyd-Jones QC highlighted the level of sophistication and persistence in the attacks, as well as the damage caused.

Defending, William Harbage QC said Gamble, who is on the autistic spectrum, was "naive" and "childish" and his actions were a response to what he had read about in online chat rooms about US policy.

Mr Harbage said the teen thought he could get them to change "as a result of what he was doing from his bedroom".
The Central Criminal Court in London jails Kane Gamble, 18, for two years for unlawfully accessing CIA, FBI and United States Department of Justice databases and phone and email accounts of senior US intelligence officials.