A 5th person has been arrested over the hack of TalkTalk on 'suspicion of blackmail'
An 18-year-old boy was arrested in Llanelli, Wales, on suspicion of blackmail.
After the company was hacked in October, it said it was targeted by a ransom demand, although TalkTalk wasn't sure it the demand was authentic. It is not clear whether this is the blackmail that the teenager is suspected of.
There are been four previous arrests during the investigation:
- A 15-year-old boy from County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
- A 16-year-old boy from West London.
- A 20-year-old man in Staffordshire.
- A 16-year-0ld boy in Norwich.
Unlike the most recent arrest, the previous four were all arrested on suspicion of offences under the Computer Misuse Act. All have since been bailed and released.
In October, TalkTalk was targeted by hackers, resulting in the theft of more than 150,000 customers' details, the company says. This was significantly less than the up to 4 million that were immediately feared to have been affected.
Days after the hack was made public, Business Insider spoke to people claiming to be involved in the hack. One told us that they did it for "s---ts and giggles," that there was no financial motivation behind the attack, and that the company's security was "horrible."
The breach is being investigated by the Metropolitan Police's Cyber Crime. In a statement, the Met says detectives are continuing to investigate.