GETTY Kane Gamble persuaded call handlers at an internet giant that he was John Brennan

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Kane Gamble, from the bedroom of his home in Leicestershire at aged 15, pretended to head the intelligence agency to gain access to his computers. He reportedly used “social engineering” to access the personal and work accounts of powerful American spy chiefs. Social engineering refers to the process whereby a person builds up a picture of information and uses it to manipulate others into providing more. Gamble is said to have persuaded call handlers at an internet giant that he was the then director of the CIA John Brennan, in an attempt to gain access to his computers.

And the he teenager is understood to have also convinced an FBI helpdesk that he was Mark Giuliano, then the agency’s Deputy Director, to re-gain access to an intelligence database. John Lloyd-Jones QC, prosecuting, said: “He accessed some extremely sensitive accounts referring to, among other things, military operations and intelligence operations in Afghanistan and Iran.” In an eight month crusade, Gamble also targeted the US Secretary of Homeland Security and Barack Obama's Director of National Intelligence, the court heard. The teenager was able to access John Brennan’s AOL account, his emails, contacts, his iCloud and his wife’s iPad remotely.

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He also hacked the home broadband of Jeh Johnson the Secretary of Homeland Security, and was able to listen to his voicemails as well send texts from his phone. After gaining access to the FBI’s Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (Leap), Gamble was able to gain access to criminal intelligence and details of police officers and government employees. According to court documents, Gamble at the time boasted: “This has to be the biggest hack, I have access to all the details the Feds use for background checks.” He used his access to Leap to steal and post personal details Officer Darren Wilson online after Wilson had shot and killed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson Missouri.

GETTY James Clapper was also targeted by Kane Gamble, it has been reported

James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence under President Obama, was also targeted as Gamble managed to divert all of his home phone calls to the Free Palestine Movement. In addition, Gamble was able to access the private calls and emails of Avril Haines, the White House deputy national security adviser and FBI Special Agent Amy Hess. On an internet chat, the teenager had said that he considered not sharing anymore information “because it put lives at risk, but then I thought they are killing innocent people every day”, the Old Bailey heard. However, he often taunted officials about his access to sensitive information and posted it on Twitter and Wikileaks, sometimes using the tag #freePalestine and saying it was because the US Government was “killing innocent people”.