British teens charged over TfL cyberattack tied to Scattered Spider

Two British teenagers were charged on Thursday in connection with a major cyberattack on Transport for London that disrupted services and exposed customer data in late August or early September 2024, authorities said. Nineteen year old Thalha Jubair of east London and 18 year old Owen Flowers of Walsall were arrested at their homes on Tuesday by officers from the National Crime Agency and City of London Police and appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court, where prosecutors authorised charges under the Computer Misuse Act for conspiring to commit unauthorised acts against TfL.

Investigators say the attack, attributed to the online criminal collective Scattered Spider, forced TfL to shut down significant parts of its IT network, delayed recovery of services for weeks and exposed sensitive details for around 5,000 customers, including names, contact information and some Oyster refund bank details. TfL has estimated its losses in the aftermath at tens of millions of pounds, with reporting and court submissions citing figures ranging from about 30 million to as much as 39 million, and roughly 5 million spent on external recovery support. The exact date of the breach is disputed,...