Yahoo News British teen hacker made 'I own you' appear on US security chief's home TV, court hears
A British teenager hacked into a US security chief's home television and made the words "I own you" appear on screen, a court has heard.
He admitted targeting high-profile figures such as then-CIA chief John Brennan and his wife, and FBI deputy director Mark Giuliano from his family home on a Leicestershire housing estate.
Between June 2015 and February 2016, he accessed email and phone accounts to get his hands on "extremely sensitive" documents on military and intelligence operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Old Bailey was told.
He impersonated his victims and conned call centres at communications giants Comcast and Verizon into divulging confidential information.
After targeting Mr Brennan and his wife Kathy, Gamble posted anonymously on Twitter saying: "@CIA set your game up homies. We own everything. £freepalestine £CWA."
Other victims working under President Barack Obama included James Clapper, director of national intelligence; deputy national security adviser Avril Haines; senior science and technology adviser John Holdren; the secretary of homeland security Jeh Johnson; and FBI special agent Amy Hess.
Gamble taunted them, using a TV in Mr Johnson's family home to post the message "I own you".
He left a disturbing voicemail message for Mr Johnson's wife Susan DiMarco asking: "Hi spooky, am I scaring you?"
Mr Giuliano's passwords were reset and he and his family were bombarded with phone calls, resulting in them getting police protection.
Gamble leaked some of the information he gathered using various websites including WikiLeaks.
Mr Justice Haddon-Cave handed him a deterrent sentence of two years in youth detention.
He said Gamble had "revelled" in the attacks, adding: "This was an extremely nasty campaign of politically motivated cyber terrorism.
"The victims would have felt seriously violated."
Gamble had bragged at one point: "This is so serious I'm f***ing shaking.
"This has to be the biggest hack ever."
Gamble, who was aged 15 and 16 at the time, was supported by his mother when he appeared at the Old Bailey wearing a green hoodie, black trousers and Nike trainers.
Prosecutor John Lloyd-Jones QC said aggravating features included the "invasion" of victims' professional and private lives as well as their families.
He said: "So many of the American witnesses attest to a drop in confidence in the use of portals, many of the agencies withdrawing their contributions, reducing the effectiveness in the wider law enforcement community in America."
Mitigating, William Harbage QC said Gamble had a naive response to what he read about in online chat rooms.
"In a naive, immature and childish way, he thought he could do something about it, he could make a nuisance of himself by targeting people in America and that would somehow get them to change US policy as a result of what he was doing from his bedroom."
He said the defendant never meant to "harm and traumatise people on an individual basis".
He added: "When members of the families were brought into it, he did not think through the consequences. The thought seems to have been 'I want to grab attention of the US government and getting the families involved is some way that will grab attention even more'."
Mr Harbage argued for a suspended sentence, saying Gamble was due to sit GCSEs in June and hoped to read computer studies at university and pursue a "useful" career.
He made no reaction as he was sentenced but his mother wept in the well of the court.
The judge also ordered the seizure of Gamble's computers.
