A boy aged 15 years was arrested in Northern Ireland over the recent TalkTalk hacking.

Since the giant telecoms made the shocking revelations, this was the first arrest. The company’s first reaction after realizing that its systems had been compromised was to send warning alerts that the bank details and personal information of its four million subscribers could have been compromised.

With the TalkTalk cyber-attack, it became apparent that any fault with its complex system requires highly qualified IT experts. The company needs to hire well-trained technicians who not only know the how the system works but those who have grown with it over time to know the inside out characteristics of the system.

At about 4.20 pm on Monday October 26th, 2015, officers from the Police Service in Northern Ireland arrested the young boy in County Antrim. They arrested him in collaboration with the Metropolitan Police Cybercrime Unit (MPCCU).

According to the police, the teen was arrested on suspicion of breaking laws under the Computer Misuse Act. He was interrogated while in custody at County Antrim. The police said that as enquiries are underway, so was the search of the address.

TalkTalk on the other hard issued a statement saying that the company acknowledged it knew of the anxiety the customers were in but it was grateful that the police reacted swiftly. It committed itself to assist fully in the continuing investigation. The company advised the customers to visit http://talktalk.co.uk/secure in the meantime for all updates and any other information that relates to this incident.

Even as TalkTalk works to ensure that damage caused by the cyber-attack is mitigated, its executives were summoned before the MPs to shed light on how hackers managed to access the company’s systems and steal customer bank details. A few days after the hacking incident, the culture minister, Ed Vaizey, informed the House of Commons that an inquiry really happened in the hacking incident would be launched. The inquiry would be chaired by Jesse Norman who is the chair of culture, media and sport select committee.

The Monday that followed after the hacking incident announcement saw the share price of TalkTalk fall 12%. This was mainly because the city share traders were trying to come to terms with the fact that this was a third cyber attack attempt in just 10 months. The other predicament that faced the company at that time was the possibility of being sued for millions of pounds by the attack victims who lost anything because of the attack. After making the announcement, a week hadn’t ended before the company ceded around £360m in value.

Read the rest of the story on the Guardian’s website:
Talk Talk Officials Minimize Loss and Risk to Victims