Playboy "hacker" jailed for two years
A self-claimed hacker was jailed on Monday 28th June, 2004. Simon Jones (25) conned porn
site bossed into believing he had access to their whole user database. His ruse backfired when US secret service agents and officers from the UK's National Hi-Tech Crime Unit carried out a dawn raid on the house he shared with his parents in Southampton, resulting in his arrest and eventual imprisonment.
Jones, a science graduate who has failed to realise his dreams of working in IT, sent extortion notes from a PC in his bedroom. By getting several user accounts and passwords, he was able to con naive Playboy webmasters into believing that he was an elite hacker.
Playboy paid him 100$ in order to protect two user accounts, but the so-called "hacker" paid the money to his bank account, creating a trail that led the police straight to his door.
Jones pleaded guilty to blackmail when he appeared at Southampton Crown Court earlier this week. His lawyer, James Leonard, said his client was naive and committed his crimes out of mischief rather than greed. But Jones action's forced Playboy into mounting an internal security review, costing $6,500 (£3,400), and triggered an international investigation.
