Glenn Mangham, a software development student from York, North East England, who hacked into Facebook was sentenced to an 8-month jail term on February 17.

Mangham, of Cornlands Road, York, is 26. He admitted before to infiltrating the social networking website between April and May 2011.

Before the Facebook hacking scandal, Mangham had shown search engine Yahoo security loopholes and how to improve them. Referring to that, he claimed that he wanted to do the same for Facebook.

On the contrary, Prosecutor Sandip Patel rejected Mangham's claims, saying he acted with determination, undoubted ingenuity and "it was sophisticated, it was calculating."

Patel further said that Facebook spent $200,000 dealing with Mangham's crime which prompted a time-consuming and costly investigation by the FBI and British law enforcement.

The prosecutor told the Southwark Crown Court in London how Mangham had unlawfully hacked into Facebook and its computers from his bedroom in Yorkshire.

Mangham downloaded his own computer programs onto Facebook's servers and saved highly sensitive intellectual property on to an external drive so he could work on it off line. Then, he deleted his electronic footprint to cover his tracks but Facebook managed to discover the infiltration during a system check despite the defendant's attempted cover.

Mangham's defense lawyer Tom Ventham said his client was an ethical hacker who had a high moral stance which he was rewarded for by Yahoo.

He added that when Mangham was arrested he made many admissions to the police about what he had done. On the contrary, Judge Alistair McCreath said Mangham's actions could have been utterly disastrous for Facebook, thereby slapping him with jail time.

"You and others who are tempted to act as you did really must understand how serious this is," said McCreath. "The creation of that risk, the extent of that risk and the cost of putting it right means, at the end of it all I'm afraid, a prison sentence is inevitable."

A Facebook spokesperson said they applauded the work of the police and Crown Prosecution Service in the case which did not involve any compromise of personal user data. He added: "We work closely with law enforcement authorities to ensure that offenders are brought to justice."