The Kent Police website was offline for more than an hour

by Keith Hunt

A computer nerd who launched cyber attacks on the websites of Kent Police, Oxford University and Cambridge University is facing sentence.

Lewys Martin was today granted conditional bail after admitting five offences of unauthorised modification of computer material, two of securing unauthorised access to computer material with intent and two of making, supplying or obtaining articles for use.

The 21-year-old, formerly of Dover Road, Deal, and now at a bail address at The Falstaff Hotel, in Canterbury, entered not guilty pleas to eight other charges and they were accepted by the prosecution.

Judge David Griffith-Jones QC granted conditional bail and adjourned sentence for reports until after May 13.

Police said Martin was arrested in February last year and computer equipment was seized from his home following a series of attempts to bring down corporate websites, including Kent Police and the two universities.

He left the Kent Police website offline for more than hour - using the avatar "Sl1ink" to conceal his identity and activities.

Between January 29 and February 1 last year, Martin attempted to cause disruption to both the Cambridge University and Oxford University's public-facing websites by overwhelming them with requests for information.

Oxford University's website was among those targeted byLewys Martin

He had also tried to disrupt Oxford University's website in March 2011.

The universities, which have solid protection programmes in place, took action to prevent the compromise of sensitive information. There was no compromise or access to the websites, but they were temporarily disrupted.

The Kent Police website suffered "a sustained attack" on February 1 and 2. Information systems technicians were immediately aware.

The media was contacted and told Kent Police's website had been "shut down".

DCI Tom Richards said: "We have robust systems in place to prevent our website being compromised. The attack on ours and other public-facing websites was serious and Martin's intention was to cause as much disruption and failure as possible.

"Kent Police's website is used by the public to access a range of services provided by us and other agencies. Resources had to be taken away from other duties in order to deal with this issue and, of course, any disruption to a website can result in disruption for the communities who view it.

"The attack on the Kent Police website resulted in access being temporarily unavailable to the public. There was no compromise or access to the website.

"Anyone who thinks of carrying out these types of attacks will be tracked down and brought before the courts to face the consequence of their actions."

Lewys Martin was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court

Martin, who had carried out a repair to another person's computer, also accessed an unauthorised online account used by the computer owner.

Prosecutor Ken Goss said: "Cyber crime is a rapidly expanding area of criminal activity and can take many forms.

"In this case, Martin was attacking not only large organisations, but individuals. Anyone who has been the victim of cyber crime knows how devastating it can be, but for organisations, the impact can be just as damaging, both to their business and their reputation.

"Both Oxford and Cambridge Universities estimate that around two weeks' worth of man hours were spent dealing with the cyber attacks."