Courts / Dublin / Report

Latvian who hacked boards.ie and downloaded details of 280,000 users avoids jail

Date
2015-05-13
Stage
Sentence
Primary locality
Dublin
County
Dublin

Summary

A 23‑year‑old Latvian, Aleksejs Ivanvos, was found guilty of criminal damage to data after hacking the Irish forum boards.ie and downloading details of 280,000 users. He accessed the site by using the administrator's Twitter password, which also served as the site's admin login. The hacking, carried out over four years, did not involve any financial gain or distribution of the data. Ivanvos was extradited from England to Ireland in February 2011, remanded for just over two months, then released on bail and allowed to return to the UK. Judge Martin Nolan, noting the lack of intent to cause damage and the absence of profit, sentenced him to one year in prison, suspended in full. The court recorded no justification for imprisonment, and the case concluded with the suspended sentence. The hacking had cost boards.ie €30,000 in repair and downtime expenses.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Latvian who hacked boards.ie and downloaded details of 280,000 users avoids jail. Charges or matters: criminal damage of data at boards.ie based in Blanchardstown, Dublin on December 21, 2010. Procedural stage: sentence

When:

Why: ie because he saw it had a high number of users. CNI source report

Case subjects

Unnamed man

Defendant

Charges: criminal damage of data at boards.ie based in Blanchardstown, Dublin on December 21, 2010 (Admitted)

Plea: Guilty

Outcome: He sentenced him to one year in prison which he suspended in full after commenting that there was "no justification for a term of imprisonment".

Places mentioned

Court Venue
  • Dublin
  • Dublin Circuit Criminal Court
Secondary Mention

Topics

Stage Sentence

Related court reports

Read the original CNI report

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