Mathew J. Schwartz reports:
LulzSec Hacker “Topiary” famously tweeted: “You cannot arrest an idea.”
Perhaps not, but in the case of Topiary, revealed to be Jake Davis, now 20, you can be sentenced to 24 months in a “young offenders institute” for two counts of conspiracy to impair the operation of a computer, to be followed by a five-year serious crime prevention order that can restrict where he can travel and which jobs he’ll be allowed to take.
Davis’ sentence was handed out in a London courtroom Thursday, where he appeared this week for sentencing with Ryan Cleary (Viral), Mustafa al-Bassam (Tflow) and Ryan Ackroyd (Kayla). All were participants in the Anonymous spin-off known as LulzSec, which launched online attacks against numerous organizations’ websites, including the CIA, Britain’s Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) and National Health Service (NHS), 20th Century Fox, News International, and Sony Pictures Entertainment, from which it also leaked customer credentials and credit card numbers.
Read more on InformationWeek.
Will some one enlighten me on what these people are “thinking” as they hack into an entity ?
Do they honestly “think” that they will not be caught? I mean do they ‘think” that their trails are completely covered ?
Obviously they are not thinking and their trails are not covered.
But, as many hackers that have fallen in the past year to year and a half – even some of the HIGH end hackers – many still want to follow their footsteps, right to the cell next door.
IF its about making a statement – there are other safer methods that may not give you jail time.
IF you get jail time, parole or otherwise, stand by to be branded as “untrusted” for the REST OF YOUR LIFE. More than likely your only recourse will be jobs which pay close to minimum wage.
All for the glory of a single moment or news article. And a little bragging rights by an “ego-testical” hacker. Is a small moment in glory worth limiting your true potential for potentially the rest of your life?
Some – not all of these individuals blindly follow orders down a path that they have NO idea what they are getting themselves into. You have a choice, sure, one that may end up in a jail cell or, one that may end up in front of a microphone , calmly and collectively speaking your mind about a certain issue.
There are other alternatives. The SEO crawlers LOVE creativity in respect to a Forum. As long as the Forum is “clean” of any foul software or obvious threats, the Search Engines will crawl all over the site and the keywords will fly to the top of the search engine heap.
Need attention? Look yourself in the mirror and honestly ask yourself that question? Ask yourself if what you are doing, or have done is truly worth it. Ask yourself how much better you might sleep, or enjoy life without looking over your shoulder.
With the success the Feds have had in the past year and a half with tracking down the Higher end hackers, its only a matter of time before they perfect their ways and arrest more of the same. It’s only a matter of time before they get the next batch of hackers.
In respect of hackers and potential hackers – Your fate is in your hands, I hope you make a wise choice.