Bedford teenager cautioned over online gaming cyber crimes

The 17-year-old had admitted using specialist ‘IP Stressor’ tools in order to win at online gaming by disrupting and slowing down the internet connections of other players.

This constitutes a criminal offence, namely an unauthorised act with intent to impair the operation of or hinder access to a computer, which was contrary to the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

Detective Sergeant Sarah Livingstone from the Bedfordshire Police Cyber Hub, which investigated the offence, said: “In this case, the impact to other users in question was not severe, however this initial offending can swiftly evolve into committing more serious criminal offences relating to the denial of service or other cyber related offences against individuals and organisations.

“This type of activity will not be tolerated and it is vital that we halted this individual’s practices and diverted him away from further offending, by educating and providing him with guidance in regard to safe and lawful online activity.

“Those with the skills and software of this kind may not realise that their behaviour constitutes a criminal offence – but it is far more than simply cheating to win at a game and we have the powers to identify and bring to justice anyone who carries out illegal activity over the internet.”