A Westminster magistrates’ court is considering a hacking case against a 25-year-old UK man, in what is believed to be the first successful hack attack against Facebook.
The social networking site recently revealed that it had over 750 million users worldwide.
According to The Telegraph, Glenn Steven Mangham, has been charged with five counts security breaches of ‘security programs of Facebook’ under the Computer Misuse Act.
Facebook’s security structure is considered to be one of the strongest around. One Scotland Yard source told The Daily Telegraph that this could be the first hacking attempt "to this extent" on Facebook in Britain.
However, Facebook has denied claims that any of its servers was hacked.
Authorities arrested Mangham in early June for alleged "computer hacking offences", according to the report.
Mangham has been accusued of attacking Facebook’s ‘puzzle server’ repeatedly in April-May this year.
He used a hacking software downloaded from the Internet to disrupt the server that Facebook provided access to computer programmers to test their skills.
Mangham has also been accused of trying to hack into a ‘mailman’ server and to ‘secure access to the Facebook phabricator server.’
Mangham is out on bail, but has been barred form accessing the Internet.
"The court feels it will be safer if there was no access to the internet which will reduce the temptation for your son to go on to Facebook," said Judge Evans told to the parents of Mangham.
The court will have the next hearing next month.
Last week, a group — believed to be a splinter group of Anonymous – had threatened to "kill Facebook" for intruding into the privacy of users and storing personal data without informing users about it.
The splinter group pasted a message on Pastebin, saying ‘Operation Facebook’ would be set off on 5 November, Guy Fawkes Night. The group also posted a video on YouTube to issue the warning.
