News
LulzSec Leader Provides Info on Fellow Members to FBI
- By Kevin McCaney
- 03/05/2012
Based on information given from the hacker group LulzSec's leader, the FBI has arrested three members of the hacker group LulzSec and charged two others, according to a report on FoxNews.com.
An FBI official confirmed the arrests to Reuters.
The arrests were made early March 6 in Europe and the United States. The five suspects include two in Great Britain, two in Ireland and one in Chicago, FoxNews said.
The FBI reportedly was acting on information gained from the group's leader, who FoxNews said was Hector Xavier Monsegur, 28, of New York, who operated under the alias "Sabu." Sabu was arrested in June 2011 and quietly pleaded guilty in August to a dozen hacking-related charges, then began cooperating with the FBI's investigation, sources told FoxNews.
LulzSec, along with the hacker group Anonymous, had gained notoriety for a series of attacks on government Web sites such as those of the Senate, CIA and law enforcement organizations, and on commercial sites. But a series of arrests in the United States and Europe in 2011 had slowed LulzSec's operation.
In June 2011, shortly after LulzSec announced it was teaming up with Anonymous for Operation AntiSec, specifically targeting government sites, LulzSec announced on its Twitter feed that it was disbanding.
After more arrests of alleged LulzSec and Anonymous members in September 2011, a tweet from Sabu said he and one other LulzSec member were the only ones who hadn't been arrested.
An indictment detailing the recent arrests and Monsegur's part in the investigation is expected to be unsealed today.
About the Author
Kevin McCaney is the managing editor of Government Computer News.