James Delahunty
13 Mar 2012 2:01
Records of approximately 10,000 people were compromised.
Last week, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) was made aware of a website breach that potentially exposed some data on users. While it stressed it did not keep records of women who received termination services, it did have records of people who requested information on abortion, contraception, pregnancy, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and sterilisation.
The Metropolitan Police's e-Crime Unit took up the case and quickly arrested 27-year-old James Jeffery, of Wednesbury in the British West Midlands. According to reports, he had bragged on Twitter about the breach, and threatened to release information to the public.
Over the weekend, Jeffery told a Westminster Magistrate's Court hearing that he decided against releasing the details because he thought doing so would be wrong. He targeted the website (including defacing it with an anti-abortion message) because two women he knew he knew had decided to get abortions.
He admitted to two offences on the Computer Misuse Act, was released on bail and will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court at a later date.