Two young British hackers have admitted their roles in a TfL cyberattack that disrupted London’s transport network for months and left the transit authority counting losses of about £29 million, or roughly $39 million. For anyone who has ever tried to get across London during a normal service delay, the idea of adding a major systems breach to the timetable is not exactly soothing.
Thalha Jubair, now 20, from East London, and Owen Flowers, now 18, from Walsall, were teenagers when prosecutors say they broke into Transport for London’s network in late 2024. TfL runs the Tube, buses, trams, rail services, and the Oyster card system, which means the attack landed on infrastructure used by millions of people, not just a back-office spreadsheet with delusions of importance.
What the hackers admitted in court
According to the National Crime Agency, Jubair and Flowers were both members of Scattered Spider, an online criminal group linked to several major cyberattacks. The agency said the pair compromised TfL’s network between August 31 and September 3, 2024.
The breach forced all 28,000 TfL employees to reset their passwords as the organization began a major recovery operation. Online services were affected, and some customers were unable to use key systems while TfL tried to contain the damage.
Data from TfL’s Oyster refunds system was accessed during the attack. The incident also disrupted customer refunds and shut down the application system for Oyster photocards used by children and young people.
