A 22-year-old Adelaide man who allegedly went on a “cybercrime spree”, targeting several government departments and a courthouse, will remain behind bars until at the least the end of the year.
Payneham resident Aiden Wood, 22, appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Thursday after being charged with 12 hacking offences including operating a restricted access computer system and modifying computer data to cause harm or inconvenience.
Mr Wood smirked, and at times laughed, throughout the bail hearing as a police prosecutor opposed an application for his release on bail.
The court heard the man’s offending occurred over a period of four months.
Magistrate Ben Sale asked the prosecutor if there was any alleged motive or if Mr Wood was being “mischievous”.
“It is the attention seeking, the ability that he can conduct this behaviour,” the police prosecutor responded.
The court heard that earlier this week, Mr Wood allegedly “interfered” with the computer system at a suburban courthouse, which resulted in staff being locked out of emails for 24 hours.
“It’s alleged that he has interfered with the NBN network at Port Adelaide Magistrates Court, which has had an immediate network outage of the Microsoft systems,” the prosecutor said.
Aiden Wood was refused bail in the Adelaide Magistrates Court. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
The police prosecutor also told the court that it will be alleged the 22-year-old hacked the computer system of an Adelaide CBD building that hosts “critical government infrastructure” including the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Defence Force.
“It’s alleged he is specifically talking about AFP and Defence and posting his exploits on [the social media platform Discord],” she said.
“A group member of the platform is then posting some of that information back to victims so they’re aware of what is occurring by the accused.
“A ream of paper has been located within the security office containing images again of a cat, containing images of the elevator [security camera] dashboard. It’s alleged that he’s accessed the desktop within that security office which monitors the elevators.
“He’s had unauthorised wi-fi access to their systems.”
Ad company, gym on the list
The court also heard Mr Wood targeted cinema company Val Morgan.
“It’s alleged he’s uploaded unauthorised content on three locations, including in Victoria and New South Wales,” the police prosecutor said.
“He’s [also] compromised the network at Goodlife Gym in Payneham, so that has occurred in Adelaide.”
The police prosecutor said that alleged offending included displaying a pro-Palestine poster and a picture of a cat.
Aiden Wood allegedly targeted government departments and an advertising company. (Pexels/File)
Mr Wood is also charged with allegedly stalking and harassing a school friend, and on one occasion, threatening to kill the man’s father.
Duty solicitor Tyler Keenan, for Mr Wood, asked for his client, who has “quite a significant level of disability”, to be released on home detention bail.
The police prosecutor said, if released on home detention bail, Mr Wood’s “potential [to cause] serious harm … is extreme and cannot be managed”.
Magistrate Sale referred to the alleged offending as a “cybercrime spree” and noted that Mr Wood has already breached his current bail.
Mr Wood was refused bail and will return to court in December.
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