A 15-year-old boy was arrested by police in Northern Ireland on Monday evening in connection with a cyberattack on British telecoms firm TalkTalk.
The teenager was arrested shortly after 4 p.m. on suspicion of offences under the Computer Misuse Act by officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Metropolitan Police Cyber Crime Unit. They carried out searches at an address in County Antrim.
The boy, who was not identified, was taken into custody for questioning at a police station before being released on bail Tuesday morning.
15 year old male arrested in connection with alleged theft of data from firm Talk Talk has been released on bail pending further enquiries.
— PSNI (@PoliceServiceNI) October 27, 2015
On Friday, TalkTalk, which provides mobile phone, broadband Internet and pay television services, said private data from its 4 million British customers may have been compromised in a “significant and sustained” cyberattack on its website.
In a statement released on its website on Monday, TalkTalk said it would continue to assist the investigation.
“We know this has been a worrying time for customers and we are grateful for the swift response and hard work of the police,” TalkTalk said.
Over the weekend, TalkTalk said attackers hacked the company’s website and accessed some bank account details. But it said none of its customers’ credit card information had been exposed.