Hacker pleads guilty
A computer hacker stole hundreds of user accounts from a US military communications system.
Sean Caffrey, 25, from Sutton Coldfield, accessed and stole the ranks, usernames and email addresses.
They came from more than 800 users of a satellite communications system, as well as of about 30,000 satellite phones.
He pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday to an offence under the Computer Misuse Act. He will be sentenced in August.
The theft from the US Department of Defense took place on June 15 in 2014.
Officers from the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU) and West Midlands Police arrested Caffrey in March 2015 after intelligence showed the hack originated from his internet connection.
Janey Young, investigations manager at the NCA, said: “After strong partnership working between the NCA, the FBI and the DoD’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service there was very clear, very compelling evidence against Sean Caffrey.
“No one should think that cyber crime is victimless or that they can get away with it.
“The NCA has people with skills like Caffrey’s, but they’re doing the opposite to him in detecting cyber criminals and bringing them to justice.
“We’re working to keep the internet a safe space for people who use it legitimately.”
