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Nearly two years after a cyberattack disrupted Transport for London’s (TfL) online services and exposed customer data, two members of the Scattered Spider cybercrime group have been sentenced to prison.
Thalha Jubair, 20, and Owen Flowers, 18, each received a prison sentence of five years and six months at Woolwich Crown Court, bringing one of the UK’s highest-profile cybercrime prosecutions to a close.
The sentencing follows an investigation that began after attackers gained access to TfL’s network between 31 August and 3 September 2024. Although trains and buses continued operating, the breach disrupted several customer services, including Oyster refunds, Dial a Ride, and online account functions.
Reportedly, TfL was also forced to require roughly 28,000 employees to reset their passwords in person, while recovery costs and lost income reached about £39 million.
The case moved quickly once investigators identified the suspects. Flowers was arrested in Walsall and Jubair in East London in September 2025, before both were charged with offenses linked to the TfL attack.
They initially denied the allegations but changed their pleas to guilty when their trial opened in June 2026. Flowers also admitted hacking two US healthcare organizations, SSM Health and Sutter Health.
Investigators said the pair were members of the loosely organized Scattered Spider group, which has been linked to high-profile attacks against telecommunications companies, retailers, casinos, and cloud service providers.
Evidence recovered during the investigation included recordings, screenshots, Telegram conversations, and cryptocurrency linked to the defendants. Prosecutors said the attackers even livestreamed parts of the TfL compromise and searched customer records after gaining access to internal systems.
The National Crime Agency described the prosecution as the UK’s biggest cybercrime case to reach the courts. Deputy Director Paul Foster of the NCA’s National Cyber Crime Unit said the investigation demonstrated the value of close cooperation between investigators and TfL, adding that cybercrime produces real-world consequences for organizations and the public.
The case has also received international attention. Following the sentencing, the FBI’s Cyber Division publicly congratulated the NCA, City of London Police, the Crown Prosecution Service, and TfL for securing the convictions. The agency said the outcome reflected the value of international law enforcement cooperation against cybercrime groups such as Scattered Spider.
With the sentencing now complete, the case closes a sequence that began with the arrests, continued through formal charges and guilty pleas, and ended with prison terms for both defendants.
Authorities continue to investigate cybercrime groups linked to Scattered Spider, whose members remain connected to several major intrusions affecting organizations in the UK and abroad.
Teenagers and Online Crime
This case highlights the consistent, disturbing rise in the youth’s involvement in such crimes, as they don’t understand the legal dangers of cyberattacks. NCA earlier reported that one in five UK children between 10 and 16 have broken the law online and engaged in hacking.
“A recent survey of children aged 10-16 showed that 20% engage in behaviours that violate the Computer Misuse Act, which criminalises unauthorised access to computer systems and data. The figure is higher for those who game, standing at 25%,” the NCA reported in 2024.
