Two teenage hackers who live streamed a crippling cyber-attack on Transport For London (TfL) have been jailed for five years and six months. Owen Flowers from Walsall and Thalha Jubair from east London were part of the Scattered Spider collective, known for disrupting major UK institutions.

The 16-hour hack in August 2024 brought down TfL's online services, stole data on millions, and forced employees to reset their passwords. They boasted about gaining access to Oyster card holders and searched for personal details of celebrities and attempted bank details access.

Both teens were described as loners who spent most of their time online, unsupervised. Flowers had a history of minor cyber offences, while Jubair had over 20 previous convictions before this incident. Despite accumulating millions in stolen cryptocurrency, their motives seemed to be about online notoriety rather than financial gain.

The hack disrupted 148 technology systems and caused £39m in damages. TfL highlighted the critical role of its IT team in mitigating losses by logging out all staff and disconnecting systems from the internet. The case raises concerns about the growing threat of home-grown hackers and the online world’s potential to expose young people to harmful influences.