The FBI on Tuesday announced that it has charged six hackers associated with Anonymous and LulzSec with charges related to cyber attacks on high-profile targets like Fox, Sony Pictures, Stratfor, and more.
According to Fox News, the hackers were brought down by one of their own. Hector Xavier Monsegur, who goes by the name "Sabu" online, cooperated with the government for months after being uncovered back in August.
The FBI charged five individuals in the U.S. and abroad with computer hacking today, while Monsegur pled guilty to 12 counts of computer hacking, conspiracies, and other crimes.
The feds charged Ryan Ackroyd (aka kayla), Jake Davis (aka topiary or atopiary), Darren Martyn (aka pwnsauce, raepsauce, or networkkitten), and Donncha O'Cearrbhail (aka palladium) in Manhattan Federal Court with computer hacking conspiracy for the hacks of Fox, Sony Pictures, and PBS, the FBI said.
Jeremy Hammond (aka yohoho, tylerknowsthis, or crediblethreat), meanwhile, was arrested yesterday in Chicago and charged with crimes relating to the December 2011 hack of Stratfor.
The men in question, however, reportedly participated in a number of other high-profile hacks and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks over the last few years.
The FBI said Monsegur and other Anonymous members hit Visa, MasterCard, and PayPal between December 2010 and June 2011 after the companies stopped processing Wikileaks donations.
During that same time period, Ackroyd, Davis, Martyn, O'Cearrbhail, and Monsegur, meanwhile - operating as a group known as the InternetFeds - "engaged in a series of cyber attacks that included breaking into computer systems, stealing confidential information, publicly disclosing stolen confidential information, hijacking victims' e-mail and Twitter accounts, and defacing victims' Internet websites," the FBI said.
The included hacks of HBGary, Inc. and HBGary Federal, LLC, and Fox Broadcasting Company, where they stole data relating to the show X-Factor.
The publicity generated from these hacks led to the creation of LulzSec, a more brazen version of Anonymous. Ackroyd, Davis, Martyn, and Monsegur were the ringleaders and "undertook a campaign of malicious cyber assault," the FBI said.
They went after PBS for unfavorable coverage during an episode of Frontline, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Bethesda Softworks, among others.
Hammond, meanwhile, went after Stratfor, releasing company documents and employee data. Just last week, WikiLeaks said it would publish more than 5 million emails obtained from the Stratfor hack.
O'Cearrbhail is also behind the infiltration of an FBI conference call with international officials, which was posted online last month. An officer with the An Garda Siochana, Ireland's national police force, forwarded an email about the conference call to his personal account, allowing O'Cearrbhail to access the call-in details and tape the call.
The Charges
- Monsegur: The 28-year-old from New York pled guilty to three counts of computer hacking conspiracy, five counts of computer hacking, one count of computer hacking in furtherance of fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft. He faces a maximum sentence of 124 years and six months in prison.
- Ackroyd (23), Davis (29), and Martyn (25): All from the U.K., the trio are charged with two counts of computer hacking conspiracy. Each conspiracy count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
- O'Cearrbhail: The 19-year-old Irishman is charged with one count of computer hacking conspiracy, for which he faces 10 years in prison. He is also charged in the Complaint with one count of intentionally disclosing an unlawfully intercepted wire communication, for which he faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
- Hammond: The 27-year-old Chicago native is charged with one count of computer hacking conspiracy, one count of computer hacking, and one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Davis was arrested last summer in the U.K. in connection with the hacks of the U.K.'s Serious Organised Crime Agency, Sony, and News Corp.-owned newspaper websites. Those charges are still pending, the FBI said.
Ackroyd is being interviewed by the U.K.'s e-crime unit, while O'Cearrbhail was arrested today by the Garda.
For more, see LulzSec? Anonymous? Know Your Hackers and the slideshow below.