A Briton was fined Dh10,000 ($2,700) on Monday for repeatedly hacking into the UAE's Internet system, causing it to crash for days at a time, reported the Gulf News.
Lee Ashurst, 22, was convicted of the "misuse of the equipment, services or facilities provided by Etisalat" (Emirates Telecommunications Corp.), but was cleared of a second charge related to opening other people's mail.
The Dubai Court of First Instance also transferred his case to the civil courts where Etisalat is seeking compensation of Dh2.835 million ($800,000).
Ashurst was working as a computer engineer at a Dubai construction firm in May last year when he began hacking into Etisalat's systems, said the paper.
The internet crashed on several occasions over a month-long period, leaving thousands of individual and business users increasingly frustrated as they were unable to log on to the web or access their e-mail.
Etisalat engineers traced the telephone number of the hacker and Ashurst was arrested in a police raid at his company-provided flat on June 14 last year.
Two hacking programs - Saint and John the Ripper - were found on his laptop computer, which police seized as evidence, along with books about how to hack into computer networks – Albawaba.com
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