Alleged hacker Andrew Kelly (24) is facing a string of charges following an investigation by the US authorities, the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the PSNI.
A previous court heard how Kelly was said to earn a substantial income through his role with a company that deals with the provision of oncology computer services.
Refusing to grant legal aid to Kelly today at Coleraine Magistrates’ Court, District Judge Peter King said, going by Kelly’s financial details, the accused “has a bigger bank balance than most lawyers in court”.
Kelly, of Willowfield Avenue, is charged with 16 offences under computer misuse legislation, alleged to have been committed between March and August 2020.
A previous sitting heard that the complaint involved an allegation that the password details, address and credit card information — what Nike described as the “credentials” — for a number of customers had been hacked.
It was claimed 277,000 customers’ details, from of “an effort just shy of nine million”, were compromised.
The alleged hacker faces one count of making a computer program “described as R6 Checker.exe, intending it to be used for commuter misuse”; 11 charges of unauthorised access to computer material; and four counts of having articles in connection with a fraud, “namely data held in electronic form comprising email addresses and passwords”.
The list of numerous alleged victims of commuter misuse include Nike Inc, Morrisons Supermarkets, the Cooperative Group, Ubisoft Entertainment and Reddit.
It is also alleged that Kelly had “email addresses and passwords contained in a file”.
The case had been scheduled for a preliminary inquiry today, which would have seen the case elevated to the Crown Court.
However, defence counsel Gavin Cairns asked for the preliminary inquiry to be adjourned and, accordingly, District Judge King put the case back to October 27.
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