15-year-old boy arrested in massive TalkTalk hack

Authorities have arrested a 15-year-old boy in Northern Ireland in connection with the hack on British broadband provider TalkTalk, The Guardian reports.

{mosads}The hack, which put the payment details and personal information of its around 4 million customers at risk, could be one of the largest in U.K. history.

The boy was arrested on Monday afternoon on suspicions of offences under the Computer Misuse Act, according to The Guardian.

TalkTalk said Saturday that the number of customers influenced by the hack was “materially lower” than it had first feared and that the hack alone would not lead to any monetary theft.

The investigation is ongoing amidst criticisms that the company relied on lax cybersecurity practices to safeguard its data.

TalkTalk faces a maximum fine of £500,000 if the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) finds that the company did not adequately protect itself against hackers.

“Our investigations into previous incidents are ongoing, and it wouldn’t be appropriate to presume a company had breached the Data Protection Act until our enquiries are complete,” the ICO said in a statement.

“But what is clear is that organisations do need to make sure they have the appropriate level of security in place to protect the customer information they hold. If they don’t, we will act.”