Inside the £29m UK cyber plot engineered by teen who ended up 'on FBI's radar'

A UK cyber case described as Britain’s “biggest ever” has been linked to teen Owen Flowers, who carried out a sophisticated nighttime hacking plot from his home in Walsall while his partner, Thalha Jubair, worked from London. Prosecutors said the target was Transport for London (TfL), with the defendants carrying out four days of “hostile intrusions” that caused “very considerable disruption and economic harm,” costing about £29 million. The court heard that TfL had to “pull the plug” by disconnecting systems from the internet to stop further damage. Investigators also found Flowers’ laptop was in the middle of hacking two U.S. healthcare systems at the time of his arrest, including SSM Health and Sutter Health. Flowers, then 17, initially denied involvement but later, along with Jubair, confessed. A judge noted the timely arrest prevented him from doing “substantive damage” or exfiltrating sensitive data.