‘Keys to the kingdom’: hackers who gained access to heart of London transport network jailed

Thalha Jubair, 20, and Owen Flowers, 19, sentenced to five and a half years each for cyber-attack that cost Transport for London £39m

The teenage hackers had London’s transport network at their mercy. Thalha Jubair and Owen Flowers had burrowed into the heart of Transport for London’s IT systems and held the “keys to the kingdom”.

TfL said the attack, which occurred between 31 August and 3 September 2024, could have caused “catastrophic damage” to its technology systems and could have led to “significant and extended transport service degradation and disruption”.