Arrests Sow Mistrust Inside a Clan of Hackers

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For months, The Real Sabu, as he called himself on Twitter, boasted, cursed and egged on his followers to take part in computer attacks against private companies and government agencies worldwide. “Don’t give in to these people,” he wrote, ridiculing “cowards” in the federal government. “Fight back. Stay strong.” It turns out that Sabu had become an informant for federal law enforcement authorities.

On March 6, in what could be one of the biggest breakthroughs in the government crackdown on a loose, large confederation of politically inspired “hacktivists,” he was unmasked and revealed to have helped the authorities catch several fellow hackers in Europe and the United States. Four men in Britain and Ireland were charged with computer crimes; a fifth man was arrested March 5 in Chicago. Court papers identified Sabu as Hector Xavier Monsegur, 28, of New York. He pleaded guilty last August to a dozen counts of conspiracy to attack computers. He had operated since then as usual — as The Real Sabu, instigating attacks and quoting revolutionaries online. The prosecutions are part of a wave of coordinated efforts to rein in a leaderless, multinational movement called Anonymous, which has drawn attention for its protests against the Church of Scientology and in support of the whistle-blower site WikiLeaks.


Arrests Sow Mistrust Inside a Clan of Hackers Hackers Arrested as One Turns Witness (WSJ) Pwned: FBI infiltrates hacktivist group LulzSec (CSM)