Photo: Newton Grafitti/Flickr
Sabu, the hacker who turned informant on the rampaging Anonymous offshoots Antisec and LulzSec, is getting a six-month reprieve from being sentenced on 12 counts of violating federal law, due to his continued cooperation with the feds, prosecutors told a court Tuesday.
Hector Xavier Monsegur, a 28-year-old New Yorker who used the online name “Sabu,” has been working undercover for the feds since the FBI arrested him without fanfare last June. Monsegur provided agents with information that helped them arrest several suspected members of LulzSec and Antisec, including two men from Great Britain, two from Ireland and an American in Chicago.
LulzSec, an offshoot of the Anonymous collective, rampaged across the internet in 2011, in a 50-day series of attacks on news organizations, government websites and corporations. The hacking spree was accompanied by a lively Twitter feed and clever, taunting public pronouncements.
It’s not clear from the court filing Tuesday whether Monsegur continues to be active online or is simply aiding the government in its prosecutions of those already arrested.
Monsegur, an unemployed father of two, led the loosely organized group of hackers from his apartment in a public housing project in New York. He pleaded guilty in March to various hacking-related charges, following arrests of alleged members of the LulzSec and Antisec crew earlier this year.
The government did not say what type of plea deal was made with Monsegur, who theoretically faces a maximum 124-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to 12 federal offenses, including conspiracy to commit computer hacking, and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, among other charges.
The information from Monsegur led to further charges for Ryan Ackroyd and Jake Davis, who were previously charged for alleged participation in a hacking spree last spring. His cooperation also led to the arrest and indictment of Darren Martyn, and Donncha O’Cearrbhail in connection with Lulzsec, and Jeremy Hammond in connection with Antisec. In particular, Hammond is being prosecuted for the high-profile hack of Stratfor, a private intelligence firm relied on by major corporations, which led to the distribution of Stratfor’s internal e-mail by Wikileaks.
Jeremy Hammond of Chicago appears to be a noted activist and hacker who has had previous brushes with the law, who has given a defcon talk on electronic civil disobedience, and even been profiled by Chicago Magazine.