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Island lawyers’ hit by “World Cup £400,000 prize” cyber hack      5/8/11

A Western Isles estate agent’s website has been hit by a cyber hacker in a campaign supporting high profile alleged computer data suspect Jake Davis.

Herxode - said to be a 21-year-old “self-proclaimed hackiotherapist” - boasts of sending a fake competition to 2,584 people from the Hebridean Estate Agency website - run by Stornoway lawyers Anderson Macarthur.

It is believed the site’s newsletter subscription page has now been replaced and upgraded but not before the mass mailing offering a £400,000 house on Lewis as a prize was sent out.

Subscribers were asked to go to the Free Topiary web page which has been set up to support 18-year-old Jake Davis by digital campaigners associated with the Anonymous and LulzSec global cyber attack groups.

No-one was available to comment from the legal firm but it seems clear it is not offering such a generous prize in any competition.

The Herxode hacker bragged on Twitter: “2500 emails sent to Scottish estate agent customers asking them to spread the word” about the Free Topiary campaign.

Its supporters aim to raise cash donations to support Jake Davis from Shetland who is facing multiple high profile computing hacking charges involving websites belonging to the NHS, the Sun Newspaper and the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

On Monday the 18-year-old, who allegedly uses the “Topiary” online nickname and is said to be a spokesman for Anonymous, was bailed over five charges of  computer misuse at a London magistrates court.

The fake competition questions asks: “Who won the 1966 World Cup?”

On his twitter account Herxode said: “You can arrest one of us, you can arrest 50 of us, but I have bad news, we're anonymous, we're everyone. Your prisons ain’t big enough.”

Another message reads: “Not asking anyone to do any crime. I’m asking them to support the FreeTopiary cause by joining the legal campaigns.”

He added: I didn’t ask for money. I didn’t ask them to commit any crime. I asked them to spread the word.”

Last month Herxode targeted the site of East Dunbartonshire Association for Mental Health (EDAMH).

Herxode also claims to have redirected the National Olympic Committee of Somali website to the Free Topiary site.