Fifth person arrested in connection with TalkTalk hack

A fifth arrest has been made in connection with the TalkTalk cyber breach.

Police in Wales said late on Tuesday that they arrested an 18-year old in the town of Llanelli and took him into custody on suspicion of blackmail.

So far, four others have been arrested in connection with the hack: a 16-year old boy from Norwich, a 20-year old man from Staffordshire, a 16-year old boy from Feltham and a 15-year old boy from County Antrim in Northern Ireland.

All four are suspected of offences under the Computer Misuse Act and have been released on bail pending further enquiries.

Telecommunications group TalkTalk said in October that it had received a ransom demand from an unidentified party claiming responsibility for the attack, with the payment demand sent to chief executive Dido Harding’s corporate email account.

Earlier this month, TalkTalk estimated the one-off financial impact of the hack at between £30m and £35m, which was significantly less than analysts had been expecting.