UK newspapers are reporting that the teenager who apparently hacked TalkTalk is a “video game addict” who said he wanted to become a pro Call of Duty eSports player.
The Daily Mail in particular has pointed the finger at video games in its story, describing the suspect as a “baby-faced loner and gaming fanatic who rarely leaves his bedroom”, as reported by Eurogamer.
The teen (who can’t be named or pictured for legal reasons) apparently lives in Northern Ireland with his mum, and goes by the name of ‘Vicious’ in online gaming circles.
The Daily Mail says that a year ago he wrote on his blog: “I’m a 14-year-old gamer who one day wants to be a professional Call of Duty player.” The paper also claims that the boy was a fan of Grand Theft Auto and Resident Evil, pointing out the more negative points in the former.
“Players can commit their own killings and muggings. Players can pick up a prostitute, have sex with her, then beat her to death,” read the paper’s report when referring to Grand Theft Auto.
The alleged hack on TalkTalk happened last week, when the telecoms company took down its website after suffering a breach.
The firm said that customer data may have been compromised after it was hit by a DDoS attack.
It’s the latest breach on the telecoms firm in eight months, following attacks in February and August earlier this year.
Obviously, we’re not sure any eSports organisation would employ this kid after what’s happened, but honestly – you never know.
Hackers known for large-scale attacks in the past, such as George “geohot” Hotz, who published details of a PS3 jailbreak, have gone on to work for big companies. In Hotz’ case, he went on to work for Google.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
