British Man Arrested For Hacking And Stealing Data From US Department Of Defense

Another week, another breach-related arrest. In Britain, an unnamed 23-year-old man was arrested for being tied to a cyberattack that took place against the US' Department of Defense last June, though the DoD stresses that no data taken affects national security.

The man is accused of accessing DoD systems, specifically those that track employee information and also internal chat client data. While retrieval of this data may not affect national security, it sure seems like this man walked away with quite the haul: the package included over 34,000 IMEI device numbers, and contact details for 800 people, which itself included names, email addresses, and titles.

The New York Times reports that this is just one of 57 digital-related arrests made in Britain last week. Andy Archibald, of Britain's National Cyber Crime Unit, says, "Criminals need to realize that committing crime online will not make them anonymous to law enforcement", and further, "We are continuously working to track down and apprehend those seeking to utilize computers for criminal ends, and to disrupt the technical networks and infrastructures supporting international cyber crime."

If there was any doubt that Britain took cybersecurity seriously, I think this should quell that. In fact, with nearly 60 arrests made last week alone, it almost seems like Britain takes it more seriously than any other country -- or, it at least is quicker and more apt to arrest anyone accused of a digital crime.

It's not mentioned what the other arrests were for, but it seems clear that if you're in Britain (or anywhere, for that matter), and you're planning to commit a digital crime, the authorities will work hard to find you.