7 ms·

Self-proclaimed LulzSec leader arrested

37 points by akandiah 13y ago

dobbsbob 13y ago
wait.. what? Lulzsec died when Sabu turned snitch years ago. Who is this Australian and why is the article confusing the real "Lulzsec" with this random Australian guys antics.
- eksith 13y ago
  Unless you were part of Lulzsec, there's no way to know how far reaching they were. The Internet isn't specific to one or two countries after all. And I'm not really sure if Lulzsec "died" either. There are plenty more able and willing people on IRC. Besides, I doubt any one person is at the helm of this boat to begin with.
  - dobbsbob 13y ago
    There was only a small core group of people inside Lulzsec. They were all arrested except Virus. He's not stupid enough to get caught either in fact he called Sabu being a CI the day he came back online after being busted and started offering people money to break into federal honeypots. This is why Virus is still free and not sitting in the pen
    - eksith 13y ago
      Interesting. So this is basically a collection of cheerleaders with a loud and closely tied handful of "actors". The fact that Virus is free and most others are not leads me to believe, for all their loud talking, most were hopelessly naïve.
      - trotsky 13y ago
        intrusion teams that are willing to talk up their hijinks to the press are almost always going down. 30 years worth of busts have left an undeniable pattern - if you mock the investigators, get in the papers more than once, and you're in a cooperative country you're not long for the business. Skip most of those aspects, and don't steal millions, and you'll probably never have the resources dedicated to you. lulzsec conducted themselves defensively enough for anyone doing data theft and PII to be unlikely to get caught if they weren't making it public. If there is one thing feds do it's form grudges.
    - pyre 13y ago
      | He's not stupid enough to get caught either He wasn't stupid enough to get caught. You have no idea if he will or won't get caught in the future.
- nikatwork 13y ago
  LulzSec attacked Australian government systems in June 2011 [1]. Given that Oz is not exactly a high-profile target, it wouldn't surprise me if one of the members was Ozzie - especially as this guy allegedly had inside access to gov systems. I am however skeptical that he's the "leader". [1] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-06-17/lulzsec-leaks-australians-passwords/2761570 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-06-17/lulzsec-leaks-australi...
trotsky 13y ago
they should charge him with impersonating a federal officer
DigitalSea 13y ago
LulzSec was nothing more than a few script-kiddies trying to act tough by causing mayhem for no reason other than for the "lulz" if they found the leader, great work. Anyone with access to Government information who abuses that power without a noble cause deserves to be jailed.
- dobbsbob 13y ago
  The noble cause was the lulz. It was a 1990s style infiltration and defacing spree that didn't take itself super serial like all those moralist Anon hackers who don't realize that back in 2003 Anon was an inside joke. They were crowd sourcing silly pranks like raining dongs in second life and writing hilarious over the top propaganda about these caveats, which was supposed to be ridiculous in it's menacing, in order to troll the media. Media never got the joke, was trolled along until unfunny fundies picked up the torch and hijacked the movement into petty politics devoid of even the smallest lulz. That's when Lulzsec decided to start up, to bring some 1990s style comedic anarchy but it ended horribly with almost all of them in jail except for SnitchBu. Unless this Australian is 'Virus' the guy who hung around #pure-elite on their watched IRC server then he isn't lulzsec. You'd have to be a fool to use that name anyways it's a good way to get law enforcement attention
- infrec 13y ago
  Just because you disagree with their actions it doesn't mean that they were just random script-kiddies. I am not a hacker but it certainly seemed like they had at least a modicum of true skill. For some reason it seems that most people can't differentiate between the skill and morality of an action.
  - nvmc 13y ago
    They did not have a modicum of skill. I'm neutral on their endeavours, however LOIC and SQL injection is skiddy stuff.
    - infrec 13y ago
      LOIC, yes, but that was anonymous. SQL injection is a vulnerability - it does not make you good or bad for using it.
tuxidomasx 13y ago
Why would anybody self-proclaim to be associated with any group that could even be remotely linked to illegal activity or political dissension? Especially a group colloquially known as a script kiddie haven. Every time I hear about people getting caught up in stuff like this, I'm reminded of the book "True Names" by Vernor Vinge. As long as nobody knows your real (government) name, you have a degree of safety in cyberspace. But once your identity is known, you become a much bigger target.
- eksith 13y ago
  >Why would anybody self-proclaim to be associated with any group that could even be remotely linked to illegal activity or political dissension? Same reason some criminals brag about their exploits on Facebook... only to be caught the same day. Pride, status and notoriety.
- orangethirty 13y ago
  For something referred to as cred. This is a mix of social status, proof of skills, and attitude. Gangs use cred as a way to measure the value of their members. A person who brags about doing illegal things is only doing so to elevate his cred. Having street cred is more valuable than money in many circles. Due to how it allows a person to operate within a limited set of rules inside a community. A gang member with a lot of cred can simply do things other members cannot. Such as having first pick at food, housing, vehicles, and money.
  - Oxxide 13y ago
    to my dismay, internet cred does not share a 1:1 ratio with street cred.
    - orangethirty 13y ago
      Depends on various factors. It may be valued higher. Posting online nets a wider audience.
    - dobbsbob 13y ago
contingencies 13y ago
It's worth considering that there is some kind of political element to what this group has been doing. Perhaps if there were some viable avenues for young people across the world to meaningfully influence the political process and/or resist massive global corporations treating them as captured consumers they would be more willing and able to adopt alternative means of expression (or entertainment).
- MichaelApproved 13y ago
  There absolutely a way for people of all ages across the world to meaningfully influence the political process. They could make a meaningful difference by forming an organization that collected names of interested parties and kept them informed of news and action events. Imagine how powerful a lobbying group you could be if you had hundreds of thousands of people on a mailing list who would be influenced by your recommendation on a vote. I'm president of a non-profit and we've made meaningful changes in our city by organizing to influence our elected officials. That's just one example but there are many others that a dedicated group of individuals can influence the system and counter special interest groups beyond their own single vote.
  - contingencies 13y ago
    Look, I'm not saying your non-profit is useless or your position is that of a straw-man, but you have to view your local situation in context. It's tiny. To clarify, I am not saying that political representation never happens, just that it's virtually impossible for young people to feel they have any impact in most western nations. Let's take your example right there. First of all, it's geographically localized. Local issues mostly affect people who have made a commitment to be in a given area for an extended part of their life, usually through property. In general, this makes them an older group, and by definition coming from a different sociological/cultural/financial/traditional axis than younger people. So on local issues, young people are at an immediate disadvantage in terms of participation, because they are not taken seriously. (I would argue that increasingly young people evade this tyranny of local affairs by seeking membership in the online communities that transcend such petty borders, but that's a tangent.) Secondly, your idea is to influence voting. Great. Nonviolent change, etc. Captain obvious here: the rest of the world largely sees the US as an aggressor. Can you seriously, with all the information available today, see an end to US warmongering coming from votes? No. The two party system in to which most western societies have collapsed is a false dichotomy; it's a side-show from the real power which persists dynastically and 'contributes' (read: bribes) whomever or whatever they see fit to maintain that position. This is well documented. This is not unique to the US. Coming back to local issues then, what is the wider effect of people forming issue-oriented groups in local areas? For one, it basically acts to lend credence to the objectively dead idea of representation under the current systems, rather than fostering meaningful debate in to how exactly things went wrong in the first place. I could expand on this further but I'm just saying that young people who operate on a much shorter timeframe for most issues probably do not have the funds, geographic ties or energy to make the inefficient, long-haul battles required to influence anything at all, even to the level you are seeing in your local non-profit. You must be well aware of how much effort is involved to make minor changes. Consider then, that local issues are likely the last bastion of any nominally participative representation in the current system. Consider further, that the apathy felt by the young is global and not only of your nation. Personally I have lived in quite a few countries. My observation is that there is an extreme feeling of political and socioeconomic disempowerment amongst the youth globally, and that there is systemic change coming. Given such an outlook, my own feeling is that limiting one's perspectives to that which is determined as acceptable under the current system of 'free world democracy' is tantamount to capitulation. Much respect for doing something locally though. If the whole world did, we'd undoubtedly be in a better place, but at the macro level we'd still be being taken for a ride.
ZeroCoin 13y ago
I thought "self-proclaimed LulzSec leader" was an oxymoron?
rumcajz 13y ago
Senior IT professional at 24? The seniority standard must be pretty low nowadays.
- will_work4tears 13y ago
  If they went to college and graduated young they could have 6 years experience. That's considered senior base on job postings.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
muyuu 13y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histrionic_personality_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histrionic_personality_disorde...

37 points by akandiah 13y ago

wait.. what? Lulzsec died when Sabu turned snitch years ago. Who is this Australian and why is the article confusing the real "Lulzsec" with this random Australian guys antics.

eksith 13y ago
Unless you were part of Lulzsec, there's no way to know how far reaching they were. The Internet isn't specific to one or two countries after all. And I'm not really sure if Lulzsec "died" either. There are plenty more able and willing people on IRC. Besides, I doubt any one person is at the helm of this boat to begin with.
- dobbsbob 13y ago
  There was only a small core group of people inside Lulzsec. They were all arrested except Virus. He's not stupid enough to get caught either in fact he called Sabu being a CI the day he came back online after being busted and started offering people money to break into federal honeypots. This is why Virus is still free and not sitting in the pen
  - eksith 13y ago
    Interesting. So this is basically a collection of cheerleaders with a loud and closely tied handful of "actors". The fact that Virus is free and most others are not leads me to believe, for all their loud talking, most were hopelessly naïve.
    - trotsky 13y ago
      intrusion teams that are willing to talk up their hijinks to the press are almost always going down. 30 years worth of busts have left an undeniable pattern - if you mock the investigators, get in the papers more than once, and you're in a cooperative country you're not long for the business. Skip most of those aspects, and don't steal millions, and you'll probably never have the resources dedicated to you. lulzsec conducted themselves defensively enough for anyone doing data theft and PII to be unlikely to get caught if they weren't making it public. If there is one thing feds do it's form grudges.
  - pyre 13y ago
    | He's not stupid enough to get caught either He wasn't stupid enough to get caught. You have no idea if he will or won't get caught in the future.
nikatwork 13y ago
LulzSec attacked Australian government systems in June 2011 [1]. Given that Oz is not exactly a high-profile target, it wouldn't surprise me if one of the members was Ozzie - especially as this guy allegedly had inside access to gov systems. I am however skeptical that he's the "leader". [1] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-06-17/lulzsec-leaks-australians-passwords/2761570 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-06-17/lulzsec-leaks-australi...

trotsky 13y ago

they should charge him with impersonating a federal officer

DigitalSea 13y ago

LulzSec was nothing more than a few script-kiddies trying to act tough by causing mayhem for no reason other than for the "lulz" if they found the leader, great work. Anyone with access to Government information who abuses that power without a noble cause deserves to be jailed.

dobbsbob 13y ago
The noble cause was the lulz. It was a 1990s style infiltration and defacing spree that didn't take itself super serial like all those moralist Anon hackers who don't realize that back in 2003 Anon was an inside joke. They were crowd sourcing silly pranks like raining dongs in second life and writing hilarious over the top propaganda about these caveats, which was supposed to be ridiculous in it's menacing, in order to troll the media. Media never got the joke, was trolled along until unfunny fundies picked up the torch and hijacked the movement into petty politics devoid of even the smallest lulz. That's when Lulzsec decided to start up, to bring some 1990s style comedic anarchy but it ended horribly with almost all of them in jail except for SnitchBu. Unless this Australian is 'Virus' the guy who hung around #pure-elite on their watched IRC server then he isn't lulzsec. You'd have to be a fool to use that name anyways it's a good way to get law enforcement attention
infrec 13y ago
Just because you disagree with their actions it doesn't mean that they were just random script-kiddies. I am not a hacker but it certainly seemed like they had at least a modicum of true skill. For some reason it seems that most people can't differentiate between the skill and morality of an action.
- nvmc 13y ago
  They did not have a modicum of skill. I'm neutral on their endeavours, however LOIC and SQL injection is skiddy stuff.
  - infrec 13y ago
    LOIC, yes, but that was anonymous. SQL injection is a vulnerability - it does not make you good or bad for using it.

tuxidomasx 13y ago

Why would anybody self-proclaim to be associated with any group that could even be remotely linked to illegal activity or political dissension? Especially a group colloquially known as a script kiddie haven. Every time I hear about people getting caught up in stuff like this, I'm reminded of the book "True Names" by Vernor Vinge. As long as nobody knows your real (government) name, you have a degree of safety in cyberspace. But once your identity is known, you become a much bigger target.

eksith 13y ago
>Why would anybody self-proclaim to be associated with any group that could even be remotely linked to illegal activity or political dissension? Same reason some criminals brag about their exploits on Facebook... only to be caught the same day. Pride, status and notoriety.
orangethirty 13y ago
For something referred to as cred. This is a mix of social status, proof of skills, and attitude. Gangs use cred as a way to measure the value of their members. A person who brags about doing illegal things is only doing so to elevate his cred. Having street cred is more valuable than money in many circles. Due to how it allows a person to operate within a limited set of rules inside a community. A gang member with a lot of cred can simply do things other members cannot. Such as having first pick at food, housing, vehicles, and money.
- Oxxide 13y ago
  to my dismay, internet cred does not share a 1:1 ratio with street cred.
  - orangethirty 13y ago
    Depends on various factors. It may be valued higher. Posting online nets a wider audience.
  - dobbsbob 13y ago

contingencies 13y ago

It's worth considering that there is some kind of political element to what this group has been doing. Perhaps if there were some viable avenues for young people across the world to meaningfully influence the political process and/or resist massive global corporations treating them as captured consumers they would be more willing and able to adopt alternative means of expression (or entertainment).

MichaelApproved 13y ago
There absolutely a way for people of all ages across the world to meaningfully influence the political process. They could make a meaningful difference by forming an organization that collected names of interested parties and kept them informed of news and action events. Imagine how powerful a lobbying group you could be if you had hundreds of thousands of people on a mailing list who would be influenced by your recommendation on a vote. I'm president of a non-profit and we've made meaningful changes in our city by organizing to influence our elected officials. That's just one example but there are many others that a dedicated group of individuals can influence the system and counter special interest groups beyond their own single vote.
- contingencies 13y ago
  Look, I'm not saying your non-profit is useless or your position is that of a straw-man, but you have to view your local situation in context. It's tiny. To clarify, I am not saying that political representation never happens, just that it's virtually impossible for young people to feel they have any impact in most western nations. Let's take your example right there. First of all, it's geographically localized. Local issues mostly affect people who have made a commitment to be in a given area for an extended part of their life, usually through property. In general, this makes them an older group, and by definition coming from a different sociological/cultural/financial/traditional axis than younger people. So on local issues, young people are at an immediate disadvantage in terms of participation, because they are not taken seriously. (I would argue that increasingly young people evade this tyranny of local affairs by seeking membership in the online communities that transcend such petty borders, but that's a tangent.) Secondly, your idea is to influence voting. Great. Nonviolent change, etc. Captain obvious here: the rest of the world largely sees the US as an aggressor. Can you seriously, with all the information available today, see an end to US warmongering coming from votes? No. The two party system in to which most western societies have collapsed is a false dichotomy; it's a side-show from the real power which persists dynastically and 'contributes' (read: bribes) whomever or whatever they see fit to maintain that position. This is well documented. This is not unique to the US. Coming back to local issues then, what is the wider effect of people forming issue-oriented groups in local areas? For one, it basically acts to lend credence to the objectively dead idea of representation under the current systems, rather than fostering meaningful debate in to how exactly things went wrong in the first place. I could expand on this further but I'm just saying that young people who operate on a much shorter timeframe for most issues probably do not have the funds, geographic ties or energy to make the inefficient, long-haul battles required to influence anything at all, even to the level you are seeing in your local non-profit. You must be well aware of how much effort is involved to make minor changes. Consider then, that local issues are likely the last bastion of any nominally participative representation in the current system. Consider further, that the apathy felt by the young is global and not only of your nation. Personally I have lived in quite a few countries. My observation is that there is an extreme feeling of political and socioeconomic disempowerment amongst the youth globally, and that there is systemic change coming. Given such an outlook, my own feeling is that limiting one's perspectives to that which is determined as acceptable under the current system of 'free world democracy' is tantamount to capitulation. Much respect for doing something locally though. If the whole world did, we'd undoubtedly be in a better place, but at the macro level we'd still be being taken for a ride.

ZeroCoin 13y ago

I thought "self-proclaimed LulzSec leader" was an oxymoron?

rumcajz 13y ago

Senior IT professional at 24? The seniority standard must be pretty low nowadays.

will_work4tears 13y ago
If they went to college and graduated young they could have 6 years experience. That's considered senior base on job postings.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

muyuu 13y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histrionic_personality_disorder https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histrionic_personality_disorde...