Student who Hacked into Facebook Employee Account Gets Jail Time [VIDEO]

 By 
Alissa Skelton
 on 
Student who Hacked into Facebook Employee Account Gets Jail Time [VIDEO]

[brightcove video="1462939730001" /]

A 26-year-old software development student will spend eight months in jail for hacking Facebook, which his judge said could have been "utterly disastrous" for the company.

Glenn Mangham hacked a

Mangham, who described himself to a London court as a computer nerd who didn't mean any harm, told the jury he hacked Facebook to help the social media company find holes in its security. He also said he had helped Yahoo improve its security in a similar way.

The prosecution said the hack was a sophisticated threat to the social media site and was not the least bit helpful. British police and the FBI spent a lot of time investigating the case, and Facebook spent $200,000 dealing with Mangham's hack.

Prosecutor Sandip Patel told the Telegraph that the incident "represents the most extensive and grave incident of social media hacking to be brought before the British courts.''

Facebook caught Mangham during an early June security sweep. The hacker had tried to delete his trail from the employee's account, but Facebook noticed his account access. The FBI showed up at Mangham's house and arrested him shortly after Facebook turned over the hacking evidence to authorities.

No personal user data was compromised, Alison Saunders, another prosecutor, told The Telegraph.

Do possible Facebook hacks make you nervous to use the service? Tell us in the comments below.

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