Wild thing alleged Western Sydney Uni hacker had to do before release on bail

A woman accused of threatening to sell personal data stolen from her former uni has been granted bail. But one surprising thing had to happen before she was released.

An alleged hacker accused of ransoming gigabytes of data stolen from Western Sydney University has been released on bail but only after her housemate handed over her smart TV.

Kingswood woman and firmware engineer Birdie Kingston, 27, walked from Amber Laurel Correctional Centre in western Sydney on Friday afternoon after she earlier in the day made a successful bail application inside Parramatta Local Court.

On Friday morning, Ms Kingston appeared in court via videolink, two days after being arrested on a string of serious charges relating to an alleged data breach at WSU.

Police opposed her release on bail citing the risk that she could gain access to cloud servers and delete evidence before investigating officers could access them, the court was told on Friday.

Alleged Hacker Birdie Kingston. Picture: NewsWire / Damian Shaw

She walked out of jail on bail on Friday. Picture: NewsWire / Damian Shaw

The former WSU student was arrested over a series of alleged cyber attacks spanning four years with police arguing she was driven by a grievance against the institution.

Police have alleged that from 2021 her cyber attacks escalated dramatically, from securing discounted parking and changing her grades before she last year threatened to release data onto the internet.

The court heard on Friday she allegedly demanded $80,000 in exchange for the stolen data.

She threatened to sell personal information on the dark web and it has been estimated that hundreds of university staff and students were affected, it has been alleged.

Alleged hacker Birdie Kingston. Picture: Supplied.

She was arrested on Wednesday. Picture: NSW Police

It’s not alleged that the data was ever posted to the internet and the university did not pay the ransom.

She was first spoken to by police in 2023 but was not arrested until this week when she was charged with 20 offences.

She is facing 10 counts of accessing/modifying restricted data, four counts of unauthorised modification of data, two counts of unauthorised function with intent serious offence, possess data with intent to commit computer offence, dishonestly obtaining property by deception, dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, attempting to dishonestly obtain financial advantage by deception and demand with menaces.

Police seized mobile phones and computers from her Kingswood apartment and are combing through mountains of data that is located on cloud servers belonging to Ms Kingston.

Ms Kingston appeared in Parramatta Local Court on Friday morning, dressed in the same sweater she was wearing when she was arrested on Wednesday.

The police opposed her release on bail, citing the risk of her committing serious offences and tampering with evidence.

The court was told on Friday that police were in the process of trying to get access to cloud servers belonging to Ms Kingston.

And they were concerned that if she was on bail, that she could get in and delete evidence.

Police had accessed one server, but were yet to gain access to others.

The court was told that the servers had about 160GB of data on them.

In arguing for her release, her solicitor argued that custody would be more onerous given that she had several medical conditions - including ADHD, autism and a heart condition - and because she was transgender.

Police raided her Kingswood home on Wednesday. Picture: NSW Police

Police seized electrical equipment during the raid. Picture: NSW Police

Acting Magistrate Judith Sweeney described Ms Kingston’s alleged offending as “sophisticated, ongoing” and “impacting people’s lives in a way that is unconscionable”.

She noted many people had been affected by hacking and identity theft, such as the 2022 Optus data breach.

Ms Kingston was released on bail on strict conditions including that she live with her flatmate at Kingston, abide by a curfew and report to police daily.

Ms Kingston is also banned from accessing the internet or owning an internet-capable phone.

And before she was released, the court ordered that her flatmate surrender her smart TV so there was no risk of Ms Kingston accessing the internet.

Ms Kingston walked from Amber Laurel Correctional Centre on Friday afternoon and will return to court on July 18.

Originally published as Wild thing alleged Western Sydney Uni hacker had to do before release on bail