For most people, being highly skilled in cybersecurity leads to a lucrative career—for Taz Ryder, it led to a decade-long persecution by Sussex Police.
Despite being one of the UK’s earliest cybersecurity pioneers, founding a tech company before the term “cybersecurity” was even mainstream, Taz found himself branded as a hacker in the worst possible sense. Not because of any crime, but because of ignorance, fear, and the incompetence of those in power.
This is the story of a man whose intelligence made him a target, whose neurodivergence was weaponized against him, and whose only crime was being ahead of his time in a country that punishes those who think differently.
A Prodigy in a World That Didn’t Understand Him
From a young age, Taz Ryder was destined to excel in technology.
- While most kids were playing video games, he was learning how they were built.
- While others were using the internet for entertainment, he was understanding its vulnerabilities.
But rather than being nurtured, his intellect became a liability.
His own mother called the police on him repeatedly, falsely accusing him of hacking as early as 1999, when he was just a teenager.
- 1999 – She reported him for hacking after he connected two monitors to his computer.
- 2004 – She accused him of jamming phone signals, simply because she couldn’t get the phone to work.
Sussex Police, instead of questioning these bizarre claims, took them seriously, placing Taz on their watchlist from childhood.
By the time he became an adult, his reputation as a hacker was already cemented in the eyes of law enforcement—despite the fact that he had never committed a single crime.
The Whistleblower Who Became the Target
In 2008, everything changed.
Taz discovered serious allegations of sexual abuse involving minors within certain operational circles in Brighton. He did what any responsible citizen would do—he reported it.
To protect the information, he used a self-destructing email system—a widely used cybersecurity method that ensures sensitive data cannot be intercepted or leaked.
But instead of investigating the abuse, Sussex Police turned on him.
- They arrested him under fabricated charges of harassment and computer misuse.
- They used a name he had only ever used in Brighton’s nightlife scene—proving they had been monitoring him in inappropriate ways.
- They remanded him into custody under false pretenses, ensuring that the real allegations he reported were buried.
From that moment on, Taz Ryder wasn’t a cybersecurity professional—he was a marked man.
The Cyber Incident That Exposed Police Incompetence
In 2014, Taz unknowingly triggered one of Sussex Police’s most embarrassing cybersecurity failures—a simple email error that spiraled into a full-blown crisis.
While dealing with an abusive ex-partner and attempting to contact authorities for help, Taz modified an email scheduling script.
The script was supposed to send one email every few days—a simple request for help.
Instead, due to an error in the cron job settings, it sent 3,000 emails at once.
Any competent IT department would have:
✅ Blocked the sender’s IP address in minutes.
✅ Filtered the inbox and deleted the emails.
✅ Restarted mail services to clear the backlog.
Instead, Sussex Police took 11 hours to resolve what was essentially an IT ticket-level issue.
They panicked, treated it as a cyber attack, and used it as further justification to harass Taz.
“If I had actually wanted to attack them, I wouldn’t have put my contact details in the email.” – Taz Ryder
The Misguided Investigation That Destroyed His Life
From that moment on, Sussex Police became obsessed with prosecuting Taz Ryder.
They raided his home, dismantled his smart security network, and falsely accused him of running a cannabis farm—when in reality, he was experimenting with hydroponics for growing vegetables.
His career suffered, as he found himself unable to operate freely without police interference.
Even his younger brother was dragged into the harassment, with police reporting false claims about his living conditions to social services.
Fighting Back: A Hacker’s Response
Taz Ryder’s intelligence is what made him a target—but it’s also what kept him one step ahead.
Rather than allowing Sussex Police to rewrite history, he documented everything.
- He filmed every encounter.
- He logged every instance of harassment.
- He gathered proof of their misconduct.
When police reports twisted his words, he had video evidence to disprove them.
“They can lie in their reports—but a camera doesn’t.”
As technology evolved, so did Taz’s ability to protect himself from further abuse.
The Escape: Leaving the UK Behind
By 2024, Taz Ryder had reached his breaking point.
After over 15 years of persecution, he made a radical decision—he left the UK entirely.
He abandoned his online alias, distancing himself from the life he had built.
To this day, he continues to work in cybersecurity, but under new identities, away from the shadow of Sussex Police.
For the first time in decades, he is free to innovate without being treated like a criminal.
Final Thoughts: What Sussex Police Got Wrong
The persecution of Taz Ryder is a shocking reminder of how law enforcement’s ignorance of technology can destroy innocent lives.
🔴 He was never a criminal.
🔴 He was never a cyber attacker.
🔴 He was never a threat to public safety.
He was simply a highly intelligent individual living in a system that doesn’t understand people like him.
If the UK wants to compete in the cybersecurity space, it must stop treating experts like criminals.
Taz Ryder was ahead of his time—but instead of being celebrated, he was chased out of his own country.
And now, the UK has lost one of its most valuable cybersecurity minds—simply because Sussex Police couldn’t keep up.
— The Legacy of Taz Ryder
