58
ultimatecontrolofthebotnetevenasherentedit out—
eitherdirectlyorthroughoneofhisassociates.
Thenextday,though,bankwebsiteswerestillbeingbom-
barded.“Wtf ?”Hutchinssaidina messagetopopopret,who
repliedthathewasbeingpaida lotofmoneybya customer
usinghisbotnet.Hutchinstrieda differentapproach.Banks
areconsideredcriticalinfrastructureintheU.K.,hesaid,
andprotectingthemis a matterofnationalsecurity.Unless
youwantintelligenceagenciescomingafteryou,Hutchins
suggested,cutoffthecustomer.Itseemedtowork.The
assaultonBritishlendersstopped.TheattacksonLiberia,
however,continued.
A fewweeksafterHutchins’swarning,Kayeflewfrom
CyprustoLondontomeetMarzianoandcollecthislatest
monthlypayment.Marzianobroughthiswifeandyoung
children,andKayebroughthisfiancéeforlunchata tapas
restaurantnearPiccadillyCircus.(There’snoevidencetheir
familiesknewofanywrongdoing.)Overdrinks,Kayecon-
gratulatedMarzianoontheOrangedeal.Marzianohanded
over$10,000incash,whichKayestuffedintohispocket.
TheCEOandthehackerpartedasfriends.
KayegottoLutonAirportforhisflighthometoCyprus,
andthat’swherethepolicefoundhim.AfterKayewokeupinthehospital,stillgroggyfromthe
effectsofthediabeticcoma,theofficerstookhimstraight
totheinterviewroomatLutonPoliceStation.It wasalmost
midnightwhentheybegan.“I’msorryif mywordsarea bit
slur-ishandmyresponsesarea bitmixedup,”hetoldhis
interrogators,accordingtoa transcriptoftheconversation.
“Mysugaris veryhighatthispoint.”
Kayedeniedeverything.Heclaimedhewasn’tbehindthe
Liberiabotnet,hadn’torderedtheattacks,anddidn’tknow
thenamesspdrmanorpopopret.“MaybeI shouldstartwith
mybackground?”hesaid,explainingthathewasa secu-
rityconsultantandan“ITsolutionsdesigner”whostud-
iedmalwareasa hobby“tostaysharp.”Hesaidhemight
haveaccessedtheserverscontrollingtheLiberiabotnetfor
researchbutcouldn’trecallwhen,how,orwhatdevicehe’d
used.Askedabouttheencryptedlaptoprecoveredfromhis
luggage,Kayesaidhecouldn’taccessit becausehispass-
wordnolongerworked.
Afterabouta weekina Britishjail,Kayewasextradited
toGermanytofacechargesoverthedisruptiontoDeutsche
Telekom.Whenhewasinterviewedata prosecutor’soffice,
hismemory at first was as fuzzy as it had been for the British
police. Then the BKA’s cryptography department cracked
his mobile phone. On it they found WhatsApp messages
between Kaye and his hacker friends, discussions on an
encrypted chat app with Marziano, a photograph of the
type of security camera used in the Liberia botnet, and avideoshowingsomeoneusingtheTelnetinternetprotocol
tocontrol a large botnet.
Faced with this damning evidence, Kaye gave a full con-
fession over several days in May. He identified Marziano as
the person who ordered him to attack the Lonestar network.
“The goal was for the attack to make customers of Lonestar
so annoyed about the service they switched to the compet-
itor Cellcom,” Kaye told the prosecutor. “There aren’t that
many options in Liberia.” When the prosecutor observed
that $10,000 wasn’t much of a fee, Kaye said, “I needed the
money because I wanted to get married.” He added, “I had
also had quite a lot to drink at that time. So I took what I
could get.”
What had happened to Deutsche Telekom was an acci-
dent, Kaye said, collateral damage as the botnet tried to
spread itself. The prosecutor believed him. Kaye pleaded
guilty to computer sabotage and, on July 28, was given a
suspended sentence.
In August he was sent back to the U.K., where the National
Crime Agency filed charges against him a day later. “He is
a sophisticated and computer-literate cybercriminal” moti-
vated by money, prosecutor Russell Tyner said during Kaye’s
first court appearance. “He offers his services for hire to oth-
ers.” There were 12 counts in all, including blackmail, money
laundering, and various computer offenses. Unusually, Kaye
was charged with putting lives at risk by misusing a com-
puter, because of the impact of his actions in Liberia. The
maximum sentence for that offense was 10 years. The NCA
alsowantedtopintheBarclaysandLloydsattacksonKaye.
For thenext year,Kaye’slegalteamnegotiatedwith
prosecutors. Eventually, he was released on bail and moved in
with his father, unable to leave the country. In December 2018
he agreed to plead guilty to the counts relating to the attack
on Liberia. Prosecutors dropped the charges linked to the
British banks—Kaye denied he was behind them, and the NCA
had no evidence to prove otherwise.
He was sentenced on Jan. 11, 2019, at Blackfriars Crown
CourtinSouthLondon.Kaye,dressedmoresmartlythan
usualina whiteshirt,lookedlessdefiantthaninprevious
hearings.HismotherhadflowninfromIsraelandhisfiancée
from Cyprus.
“There are no sentencing guidelines for this type of
offense,” prosecutor Robin Sellers said when the hearing got
under way. He cited a victim statement, sent by a Lonestar
executive, estimating its losses at tens of millions of dollars.
Kaye’s lawyer, Jonathan Green, objected, saying the fig-
ures were unrealistic and Liberia’s internet coverage was
patchy anyway. “Nobody died,” he said. “This was commer-
cial skulduggery, not a criminal offense.” Kaye is a “highly
intelligent young man with a powerful drive to understand
how things work,” Green told Judge Alexander Milne, adding