According to a report on the Mail Online, a 23-year-old hacker by the name of Edward Pearson from York, UK, used trojans to access approximately 200,000 PayPal accounts. After his arrest, investigators reportedly also found 2,701 credit and debit card details, and the personal data of 8,110,474 UK citizens.

However, the article doesn't state how exactly the data was accessed by the hacker, who goes by the name of "G-Zero". Allegedly, he used pre-programmed bots such as SpyEye and ZeuS, but also developed his own Python scripts. The hacker is also believed to have intruded into Nokia's corporate networks and gained access to the personal details of more than 8,000 employees, as well as accessing and stealing staff data from AOL.

The police estimate that he could have made more than £800,000 with the data that has been seized, but he was modest: he apparently only pocketed £2,351. According to the Mail Online, the hacker was only interested in the "intellectual challenge". The York Press reports that the 23-year-old criminal has been given a prison sentence of 26 months.

(crve)