Former WSU student is set to face court, charged with hacking offences

A former student is accused of hacking the Western Sydney University databases and threatening to sell private information on the dark web.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
A tactical team passed into a Kingswood unit, arresting an
alleged cyber criminal, twenty seven year old Bertie Kingston, the
former Western Sydney University student, police say bears a grudge.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
The incidents were driven by the person's grievances with the university.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Cyber crime officers, seizing servers evidence they say of a
string of hacks. Kingston studied electronics engineering, accused of compromising
campus computers, first for free parking, then detectives say to
alter grades.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Disrupting exams, changing grades, accessing sensitive.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Data, threatening to release it on the dark web unless
she was paid.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Cryptocurrency to the value of around forty thousand Australian dollars.
The university didn't pay the ransom.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
The attacks lasted four years, beginning in twenty twenty one,
not detected until two years later. At the time, Kingston
was questioned and her apartment searched, but she was released
without charge. It's claimed even that scared didn't stop her.
While it's likely to be in the thousands, police admit
they don't yet know just how many victims have been
caught up in these hacks. Detectives now examining more than

(01:10):
one hundred gigabytes of data seized. Going through it all
will take months. Kingston will front court tomorrow. Andrew Denny
seven News