Case against alleged FBI hacker from Dundee thrown out

A Dundee man who allegedly attempted to crash the FBI website in a cyber attack has had the case against him thrown out by a sheriff.

Coray Tierney was due to go on trial in connection with a series of online attacks on banks and the US-based crime agency.

But the Crown failed to bring the expert witnesses they required to give evidence against the 23-year-old.

The case against Mr Tierney was deserted pro loco et tempore (for the place and time) meaning it could potentially be re-raised at a later date.

Fiscal depute Kate Scarborough told Dundee Sheriff Court that the case against Mr Tierney was based primarily on a report by cybercrime experts.

She asked for the trial to be adjourned after telling the court the expert duo were unavailable as they had been sent on a once-a-year training course.

Solicitor Billy Watt, defending, opposed the motion and told the court that the case had been hanging over his client for a number of years.

Mr Watt said this had been the third motion to adjourn proceedings, and that the previous two had been refused.

He said: “From my point of view, the report doesn’t take us anywhere and no witnesses have been cited from any of the companies listed as complainers.”

Mr Tierney denied carrying out cyber attacks on a variety of companies from his home between December 2021 and March 2023.

He also denied hacking into major financial institutions, including the Bank of Israel and HSBC.

And Mr Tierney denied “carrying out an unauthorised act in relation to a computer and did intend to, or were reckless as to whether it would enable him to impair the operation of the computer, and did distribute denial of service cyber attacks against computers belonging to named organisations.”

Mr Watt said there was nothing in the report from anyone who had allegedly been hacked.

He said: “They may be making the inference, but there is nothing to suggest how that hacking may or may not have taken place.

“I note the nature of the allegation and the Crown don’t seem to have witnesses cited from the FBI, the Bank of Israel or HSBC.

“I have the cybercrime report, but I don’t think it assists in any great detail.

“It looks like some screenshots anyone could have taken off a computer screen.”

Sheriff Mark O’Hanlon said: “The report is now here, but there are no witnesses here because they are on a training course. The Crown motion is refused.”