Galway student admits hacking Fine Gael website

Galway Bay fm Newsroom - A GMIT student is one of two young computer experts to admit hacking Fine Gael's website - in the weeks leading up to the 2011 General Election.

According to the Irish Independent, 21 year old Darren Martyn from Cloonbeggin in Claregalway and 20-year-old Donncha O Cearrbhail, from The Ring, Birr, Co Offaly are to be sentenced in October.

Darren Martyn studies forensic science and analysis at GMIT while his co-defendant Donncha O Cearrbhail is a student of medicinal chemistry at Trinity College in Dublin.

The students said they hacked the website as a "stunt" to embarrass the party.

Dublin District Court heard that the pair who used the online aliases 'Raepsauce' and 'Palladium', had been identified by the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation in conjunction with US law enforcement agency the FBI.

They pleaded guilty yesterday to criminal damage to the website, which was defaced, had its database stolen and was knocked offline for 24 hours after it was hacked on January 9, 2011.

Fine Gael said it cost €10,000 to get the site up and running again.

The offence, at district court level, can lead to a conviction, a fine and can carry a maximum 12-month jail term.

The case has been adjourned until October.