Jailed cyber criminal takes over prison computers

29 September 2009

Incarcerated credit card bandit changed prison system passwords after being given programming job

A convicted cyber criminal incarcerated at a Nottinghamshire prison took control of the prison’s IT systems while undertaking a programming job he had been given by authorities, according to a report in the Daily Mirror.

Douglas Havard, who is serving six years at Ranby Prison for credit card fraud, changed the passwords for the prison systems so that no one but him could access them. He was working unsupervised on an internal TV system at the time.

According to the newspaper, an inmate at the same prison recently managed to fashion a key that opened all of its doors.

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