Village shock as ‘helpful’ computer whizz Kai West unmasked as notorious IntelBroker who caused £18m in damages worldwide
He was the polite young man who’d fix your computer when it broke down and apologise for his drunk friends at the local pub. But behind the facade of a ‘harmless’ cybersecurity student from a sleepy Hampshire village, Kai West was leading a double life as one of the world’s most notorious hackers.
The 25-year-old British national – who neighbours in Andover described as ‘friendly’ and ‘helpful’ – now faces decades in an American prison after being unmasked as the infamous ‘IntelBroker’, responsible for stealing data from more than 40 major companies and causing damages exceeding £18 million worldwide.
West was arrested in France in February and is currently fighting extradition to the United States, where he faces charges that could see him locked up for 20 years on each count of wire fraud alone.
The boy next door who fooled everyone
In the picturesque market town of Andover, where his parents own a £355,000 thatched cottage, locals are still reeling from the revelation that their helpful neighbour was allegedly running a global cybercrime empire from his bedroom.
I can’t say a bad word about him,” neighbour Tom Bartman, 43, told reporters yesterday. The car electrician recalled how West had helped repair his computer when it broke down. “He’s a clever chap, quite friendly and helpful. I know he was good at computers.”
The landlord of the nearby Hare and Hounds pub painted a picture of an awkward but seemingly harmless young man who rarely drank more than a couple of pints. “He didn’t seem normal, but he seemed harmless,” the publican revealed. “His parents only let him have one or two drinks.”
In one telling incident, West returned to the pub to apologise profusely after a friend had been kicked out for being too drunk – behaviour that seemed to confirm his polite, considerate nature.
Living a lie online
But while presenting himself as Kyle Northern on professional networking sites, claiming to have worked at the National Crime Agency and studied ‘ethical hacking’ at Winchester University, West was allegedly orchestrating one of the most prolific hacking operations in recent history.
The NCA has since confirmed that “this individual has never been affiliated to, or employed by, the National Crime Agency” – just one of many lies in West’s carefully constructed online persona.
According to US prosecutors, between 2023 and 2025, West offered stolen data for sale 41 times and distributed hacked information for free on another 117 occasions. His asking prices for the pilfered data totalled at least £1.4 million, though the actual damage to victims far exceeded this figure.
How the FBI caught their man
West’s downfall came after an undercover FBI agent purchased stolen data from ‘IntelBroker’ and followed the Bitcoin payment to an account linked to West. Investigators discovered that the cryptocurrency account was registered to an email address that also received messages from West’s UK university.
In a series of amateur mistakes that would prove his undoing, YouTube videos known to have been watched by West (based on his IP) were shortly after posted by IntelBroker on BreachForums. The same IP addresses were used by both West and his hacker alter ego on multiple occasions.
The email account contained invoices, emails from his university, and a photo of West’s license, allowing the FBI to link Kai West to the IntelBroker persona.
Running the dark web’s Amazon
West wasn’t just any hacker – he was allegedly an administrator of BreachForums, described by one expert as “like Amazon for hackers”. The notorious cybercrime marketplace is where stolen data from major corporations changes hands for enormous sums.
“IntelBroker” is the online moniker of WEST, who, in concert with his co-conspirators, compromised victims’ (typically companies) computer systems, exfiltrated data from those systems (e.g. customer lists and company marketing data), and then sold the stolen data for profit.
His victims included telecommunications companies, healthcare providers, internet service providers, and even a US federal agency. IntelBroker boasted about breaches at tech giants including AMD, Cisco Systems, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, though investigators say he often exaggerated his exploits.
Cannabis-fuelled crime spree
While West presented himself as a cybersecurity professional helping to protect companies, he was allegedly smoking “hundreds of pounds worth of cannabis a month” while planning his attacks. WEST accomplished his scheme in connection with his leadership of an online hacking group called the “CyberN[——],” which frequented a particular internet forum.
The scale of his operation was staggering. Based on a review of WEST’s IntelBroker Forum-1 posts, approximately 158 threads started by WEST offered stolen data for sale, for Forum-1 credit, or for free, since in or about January 2023 through in or about February 2025.
Parents’ £355k cottage becomes crime HQ
From his parents’ idyllic thatched cottage in Hampshire, West allegedly ran an operation that spanned the globe. The property, nestled in one of Andover’s most desirable areas, gave no hint of the criminal enterprise allegedly being conducted within.
“It’s a shame what’s happened, actually, he’s a clever chap,” neighbour Mr Bartman reflected. “I expect he was interested about something. He’s a great chap, quite friendly and helpful.”
The landlord of the Hare and Hounds speculated that West “had a sheltered childhood”, noting that even as an adult, his parents seemed to monitor his drinking. “I can’t imagine him doing well in interviews, but he had the skills,” he added.
International manhunt ends in France
French police, working with international agencies, also arrested four other individuals suspected of running BreachForums under the handles ShinyHunters, Hollow, Noct, and Depressed. The arrests represent a major blow to the cybercrime underground.
According to a report by Le Parisien, these young men were key players in France’s worst-ever data breaches, including the France Travail hack that exposed data of 43 million people.
Paris prosecutor Paul Simon told Le Monde: “The majority of high-profile data leaks against French victims were offered for sale on BreachForums. The same goes for American and European victims.”
‘Serial hacker’ faces decades behind bars
FBI Assistant Director Christopher G. Raia didn’t mince words about the severity of West’s alleged crimes: “Kai West, an alleged serial hacker, is charged for a nefarious, years-long scheme to steal victim’s data and sell it for millions in illicit funds, causing more than $25 million in damages worldwide.
Today’s announcement should serve as a warning to anyone thinking they can hide behind a keyboard and commit cyber-crime with impunity; the FBI will find and hold you accountable no matter where you are.
US Attorney Jay Clayton echoed these sentiments: “The IntelBroker alias has caused millions in damages to victims around the world. This action reflects the FBI’s commitment to pursuing cybercriminals around the world.”
From computer helper to cyber villain
The transformation of Kai West from helpful neighbour to alleged cybercrime kingpin has left his Hampshire community stunned. This was a young man who attended local schools, helped elderly neighbours with their computers, and whose worst offence seemed to be pretending to speak Romanian after a few drinks.
Yet behind closed doors, prosecutors allege he was orchestrating attacks on major corporations, government agencies, and critical infrastructure. The damages from his activities are estimated at more than £18 million globally, with victims spanning from the United States to Europe.
As West sits in a French jail cell awaiting his fate, his former neighbours are left to wonder how they could have missed the signs. But perhaps that’s the most chilling aspect of this case – in the digital age, the most dangerous criminals might be hiding in plain sight, living ordinary lives in ordinary places.
The helpful young man who fixed your laptop could be stealing millions in data from the other side of the world. And nobody in sleepy Andover suspected a thing.
