A British cyber-security student has been charged in the US over allegedly leading a hacking scheme that caused more than £18 million of damage around the world.
Kai West, who prosecutors say went by the names Kyle Northern and IntelBroker, was arrested in France in February.
He allegedly used his ‘IntelBroker’ identity to steal from large companies and sell data online.
The US is now seeking his extradition on charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and wire fraud, accessing a protected computer to obtain information and wire fraud.
He faces sentences of up to 20 years if found guilty.
FBI assistant director in charge Christopher G Raia said the charges followed a ‘years-long’ scheme to steal data and sell it for ‘millions in illicit funds’.
He said the scheme had caused victims losses of at least £18.2 million worldwide.
West is alleged to have stolen and sold the data whilst studying cyber security at a UK University.
The indictment alleges West and his co-conspirators had sought to collect around £1.4 million by selling stolen data.
Among more than 40 victims listed in the indictment were a telecommunications company, a municipal healthcare provider and an internet service provider.
US Attorney Jay Clayton thanked British, French, Spanish and Dutch authorities for their assistance in the investigation.
West allegedly hacked into computer systems to gain access to customer lists and marketing data, which he then stole for profit, according to the indictment.
He is alleged to have stolen data from at least six major victims, including a U.S. federal agency, a municipal government healthcare provider, a US-based telecommunications provider and a large internet service provider.
While none of the victims were identified, IntelBroker claimed data breaches at a number of technology companies in recent years, including Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Cisco Systems Inc and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co, Bloomberg reported.
In June last year, AMD was investigating claims that company information has been stolen in a hack.
It came after IntelBroker reportedly said he breached its systems on a site called ‘BreachForums’, where hackers sell stolen data from companies around the world.
The hacker forum was launched in 2022 and shut down in 2023, when a man named Conor Brian Fitzpatrick was arrested for running the site.
Fitzpatrick was later sentenced to 20 years supervised release in January 2024, although he is set to be resentenced next month after an appeals court ruled that his punishment was too lenient.
Four people suspected of being administrators of the forum were arrested last week in Paris.
West allegedly offered data for sale about 41 times between 2023 and 2025, prosecutors have said. He allegedly also offered to distribute stolen information for free around 117 times, according to the indictment.
Investigators discovered West’s identity after an undercover FBI agent purchased stolen data from ‘IntelBroker’ and followed the Bitcoin payment to an account linked to West.
An account used by West for cryptocurrency was also registered to an email which received messages from the UK university where West was studying.
Neighbours of Kai West today spoke of their shock at his arrest as they described him as a ‘harmless’, ‘friendly’ and ‘helpful’ young man.
One said that he used to help him when his computer broke down, while the landlord of the local pub said he apologised for a drunk friend’s behaviour after being kicked out of the establishment.
West’s parents’ house is a £355,000 thatched cottage in Andover, Hampshire. While no one at the house today was prepared to speak, others who knew him spoke glowingly about him.
Neighbour Tom Bartman, 43, said that the family seemed happy and normal.
The car electrician who’s lived in Andover since 2016 said: ‘It’s a shame what’s happened, actually. He’s a clever chap.
‘I expect he was [interested] about something.
‘I can’t say a bad word about him, parents as well. He’s a great chap, quite friendly and helpful.’
On whether he thought there were any signs West could turn out to be a criminal mastermind, he said ‘No, no, no, no, no’.
He said: ‘I know he was good at computers, sometimes he was helping us with some stuff.
‘I know he was quite clever actually – he’s a clever chap.’
He said that West helped him when his computer broke down a few years ago.
‘I had a problem when something packed up, I’m an electrician, I’m good with diagnostic but when something broke down he was able to repair it,’ Mr Bartman said.
The landlord of the nearby Hare and Hounds pub, who did not want to share his name, said he took over this role almost five months ago and West had been in on a few occasions.
Speaking of the alleged hacker’s intelligence, he said: ‘I can’t imagine him doing well in interviews, but he had the skills.
‘It’s a shame actually, a real shame, I’m sure he won’t have done anything malicious.’
He said: ‘He didn’t seem normal, but he seemed harmless.
‘I had a friend here who’s got a Romanian girlfriend and [West] was pretending he could speak Romanian.
‘I haven’t seen him in a long time, I’ve got a feeling his parents didn’t like him drinking, it didn’t affect him very well.
‘I was just told that his parents only let him have one or two drinks.
‘The last manager knew of that.’
The landlord said that there was an incident soon after he started the job – West had three or four drinks, and someone told him that he’s not allowed to drink that much.
West hadn’t caused any problems, but this made the landlord think he ‘had a sheltered childhood’.
He continued: ‘He did seem like a nice lad.
‘His friend got too drunk and they both got told to leave and he came back very polite and apologetic.’
A LinkedIn account in the name of West’s alleged alias ‘Kyle Northern’ claimed to have worked at the National Crime Agency for two months in 2019.
It claimed he studied at Winchester University in 2020, after studying at Basingstoke College of Technology in 2019.
The account also listed ‘ethical hacking’ as one of the person’s skills.
The NCA told The Times that ‘this individual has never been affiliated to, or employed by, the National Crime Agency’.
A Facebook account with the same alias claimed to have been connected to the HackerOne cybersecurity company.
However, the company said: ‘This individual was never employed by HackerOne.’
