19-year-old man was sentenced at Laganside Court for computer misuse.

A 19-year-old man from Bangor has been sentenced today at Laganside Court for computer misuse offenses that took place in 2018. Josh Maunder was 15 years old when he committed these crimes.

He was sentenced to 20 months suspended after pleading guilty to 19 counts, including multiple offenses of unauthorized access with intent or reckless impairment of computer operation, supplying an article for computer misuse, creating an article with the intention of using it for computer misuse, and possessing articles for use in fraud.

Detective Sergeant McCarragher stated that the sentence is a result of a complex investigation carried out by the police service’s cybercrime team into a wide range of cyber-attacks with both domestic and international dimensions.

The defendant was involved in targeting and crashing a variety of websites globally, including a gaming company, causing significant losses, a financial company, various police public information websites, a human rights group, and even organized a cyber-attack on a pay-per-view celebrity boxing event. He was also in possession of malicious software and managed an online community of peers who were involved in widespread computer misuse offenses.

This sentence serves as a clear message to anyone involved in this type of crime that they will be vigorously pursued and brought to court to face the consequences of their actions.