Hacker Curador escapes jail

Teenager hacker and self-styled 'saint of ecommerce', Raphael Gray, also known as Curador, managed to escape jail when sentenced at Swansea Crown Court this morning.

Instead, for his crimes he faces three years of community probation and a course of psychiatric treatment.

Nineteen-year-old Gray was apprehended by the FBI back in March after a month-long manhunt leading back to a tiny hamlet in Wales.

He had been charged with illegally obtaining 23,000 credit card numbers and obtaining services by deception.

He admitted illegally accessing eight online companies' customer databases, and his antics even included sending a shipment of Viagra to Bill Gates after obtaining the Microsoft boss's credit card details.

Gray maintains that he was acting to draw attention to the necessity of security online. He styled himself as a "saint" of ecommerce by exposing security holes in websites. "I wanted to prove a point," he said.

One of the companies he hit folded and another stopped trading, and Visa is said to have incurred costs of £250,000 as a result of his actions.

Sentencing was initially adjourned back in April so medical reports could be carried out.

The presiding judge had earlier said he was strongly considering a custodial sentence.

Further reading

• Security

Teenage hacker claims 'saint' status

• 20 Apr 2001

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
•  
•  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Security