Brazen cyber-hacking team busted in wide attacks

[tezza]

(AP) -- A group of expert hackers who attacked governments and corporations around the globe has been busted after its ringleader - one of the world's most-wanted computer vandals - turned against his comrades and secretly began working as an informant for the FBI months ago, authorities announced Tuesday.

Five people were charged in court papers unsealed in federal court in New York, and authorities revealed that a sixth person, Hector Xavier Monsegur of New York, has pleaded guilty.

Monsegur was portrayed in court papers as the ringleader, a legendary figure known in the hacking underworld as "Sabu." Authorities said he formed an elite hacking organization last May and named it "Lulz Security" or "LulzSec." "Lulz" is Internet slang that can be interpreted as "laughs," "humor" or "amusement."

Despite the organization's lighthearted name, authorities said Monsegur and his followers embarked on a dastardly stream of deeds against business and government entities in the U.S. and around the world, resulting in the theft of confidential information, the defacing of websites and attacks that temporarily put victims out of business.

Their exploits included attacks on cyber-security firms and the posting of a fake story that slain rapper Tupac Shakur was alive in New Zealand.

As their exploits became known, some hackers associated with the group boasted about their prowess.

Monsegur was charged with conspiracy to engage in computer hacking, among other offenses. Authorities said he pleaded guilty Aug. 15.

According to the court papers, he was an "influential member of three hacking organizations - Anonymous, Internet Feds and Lulz Security - that were responsible for multiple cyberattacks on the computer systems of various businesses and governments in the United States and throughout the world."

According to the court papers, he acted as a "rooter," a computer hacker who identified vulnerabilities in the computer systems of potential victims.

The court papers said he participated in attacks over the past few years on Visa, MasterCard and PayPal; government computers in Tunisia, Algeria, Yemeni and Zimbabwe; Fox Broadcasting Co. and the Tribune Co.; PBS; and the U.S. Senate.

Irish police said Tuesday that one of the five suspects had been arrested and was being held at a Dublin police station. They refused to release his name, in keeping with police force policy.

LulzSec is a spinoff of the loosely organized hacking collective Anonymous. Its members attained notoriety last May by attacking the PBS website and posting the false story about Shakur.

According to court papers unsealed Tuesday, Monsegur and others planted the fake story in retaliation for what they perceived to be unfavorable news coverage of Wikileaks on the PBS news program "Frontline."

Some alleged associates of the group are already facing charges elsewhere. An English teenager, Ryan Cleary, was arrested by the British in June. In July, a reputed LulzSec spokesman, Jake Davis, was arrested in Scotland.

[DKT27]

Please add a source link. :)

[tezza]

Please add a source link. :)

DKT27, latest news here http://www.physorg.com/

[marke68]

Karma's a bitch Sabu,this is what happens when you release Innocent peoples info into the public domain.

Wonder what Rikers island's like this time of year.

[DKT27]

All the latest on the unmasking of LulzSec leader "Sabu," arrests

LulzSec mastermind "Sabu" was identified today as 28-year-old Hector Monsegur, who has been working with the FBI since being arrested last summer and pleaded guilty to computer hacking crimes. We're digging into court documents and planning detailed coverage of the story, but no one site can cover every aspect. So we're going to keep an updated list of the top stories and happenings throughout the day. (We'll put new links at the top.)

The Guardian has posted the full text of some of the documents from the indictments against LulzSec members. The paper also has an analysis of the court papers, detailing Monsegur's cooperation with the FBI. The story notes Monsegur providing the FBI advance notice of attacks, which the FBI apparently allowed to proceed. "The FBI even provided its own servers for members of hacking collectives to use."

WikiLeaks tweeted a link to LulzSec chat logs from last August, saying the text shows "FBI informant Sabu tried to entrap anonymous hackers with $ for info."

Gawker has posted a story saying Monsegur was arrested on Feb. 3 in New York City by NYPD for attempting to pass himself off as an FBI agent.

Self-appointed Anonymous spokesman Barrett Brown told the New York Times that he received advance warning of the FBI raid on his home in Dallas, and that he hid his laptops to avoid them being found. Brown promised that "Anonymous will go forward as usual. So will I. We hired an army of lawyers last January. We are prepared for a big slug-out."

Fox News kicked it off this morning with an exclusive look into the FBI raid on Monsegur's New York apartment last June. Monsegur had normally been cautious, but slipped up one day when he "logged into an Internet relay chatroom from his own IP address without masking it." Fox News notes that "All it took was once. The feds had a fix on him."

Monsegur pleaded guilty on August 15 to conspiracy to engage in computer hacking, a plea only made public today.

Monsegur and five other members of Anonymous, LulzSec, and other groups were charged with various crimes including last year's famous attack against security firm HBGary Federal, and one against private intelligence firm Strategic Forecasting (or Stratfor), Bloomberg reports. In addition to Monsegur, Ryan Ackroyd, Jake Davis, Darren Martyn, Donncha O’Cearrbhail, and Jeffrey Hammond were the names of the other alleged hackers. Other crimes pinned against some or all of the six defendants include attacks on Fox Broadcasting, the Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co., and the government websites of Algeria, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.

The FBI press release has many details about the arrests and specific charges, saying the victims of the six hackers numbered over 1 million.

Barrett Brown said the arrested hackers formed the de facto leadership of Anonymous, and called Monsegur "an absolute traitor," the same Bloomberg story also notes.

FBI officials raided a Chicago home yesterday in connection with an investigation into the LulzSec and Anonymous hacking groups, the Chicago Tribune reports, citing an unnamed law enforcement source. The story does not say whose home was raided, but Bloomberg noted that Hammond was arrested in Chicago for crimes related to the Stratfor hack.

Consulting firm Errata Security has posted its own notes on the Sabu arrest, calling it "a good lesson for Tor users. Tor, itself, is not enough to keep your identity hidden." Monsegur was a Tor user, although he was caught after logging on to IRC without going through Tor.

The Anonymous Twitter account AnonOps sent out a terse message stating "@anonymouSabu is now controlled by feds. We have blocked the account and we suggest you do as well. #BlockAnonymouSabu."

Another Anonymous Twitter account promised to fight on in its own decentralized way, saying "We don't have a leader." A site called "Death and Taxes" downplayed the arrests' impact on Anonymous, noting that the belief that "Sabu" was a rat has been circulating in the hacking community for months. "Anonymous has grown beyond LulzSec and Sabu," the article states.

Before the indictment unsealing yesterday, the Twitter account allegedly run by "Sabu" tweeted "The federal government is run by a bunch of fucking cowards. Don't give in to these people. Fight back. Stay strong."

The Wikipedia page on Sabu has been updated to reflect Monsegur's arrest, and we'd imagine it will undergo quite an overhaul in the next few days.

:view: View: Original Article

[babelpatcher]

so he is a really super high class hacker :showoff: