A TEENAGER who hacked into computers from the bedroom of his home on Shetland as part of a sophisticated conspiracy that attacked major global institutions has been sentenced to two years at a young offenders institute.

Jake Davis, 18, was among the self-styled LulzSec collective which masterminded sophisticated cyber attacks on major global institutions including the CIA, Sony, the FBI and Nintendo.

Davis, who had admitted his role, used the alias Topiary and was LulzSec's main publicist.

Co-defendants Ryan Ackroyd, 26, of Mexborough, South Yorkshire, was jailed for 30 months, and Ryan Cleary, 21, of Wickford, Essex, whose offences included hacking into US airforce agency computers at the Pentagon was jailed for a total of two years and eight months, at Southwark Crown Court.

Mustafa al Bassam, 18, from Peckham, south London, used the alias tFlow and was at school, received 20 months, suspended for two years, plus 300 hours of community work.

The court heard they considered themselves "latter-day pirates" when they masterminded cyber attacks on the major global institutions.

Sentencing, Judge Deborah Taylor said some of the taunting of their victims made chilling reading and what they considered a cyber game had consequences.

"You cared nothing for the privacy of others but did everything you could through your computer activities to hide your own identities while seeking publicity," she said.

All had admitted offences under the Computer Misuse Act 1990.