19/04/2012

Thousands Of Attempts Made To Hack BPAS Website

The BBC have learned that thousands of attempts have been made to hack the computers of the UK’s largest provider of abortion services, BPAS.

Last month, a man was jailed for stealing the details of 10,000 women who had sought advice from BPAS.

In the five weeks since his arrest, 2,500 other attempts have been made to hack into BPAS's systems.

However BPAS have assured women that their details remain safe as all of the attempts have been foiled.

Michael Buchanan, a BBC correspondent, has said research into the IP addresses of the computers used for the hacking attempts revealed that almost half came from the US.

But he said that the nature of hacking meant it was not possible to say the hackers were based in the US.

On 13 April, James Jeffery, from Wednesbury, West Midlands, was jailed for two years and eight months after pleading guilty to breaking into the BPAS website.

The 27-year-old said he acted after two women he knew had abortions that he "disagreed" with.

Southwark Crown Court was told he intended to publish the data, including names, email addresses and telephone numbers, on an online sharing site but got cold feet.

The court heard that 60,000 women contact BPAS every year and 53,000 have abortions under their supervision.

(H)


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