Hackers arrested as group leader of Anonymous plays snitch

The hacking group, Anonymous may have probably been the most famous cyber criminals that have been around in the recent past. The group is well known for their high profile targets, which include the CIA, Sony’s PlayStation Network and a host of other websites. This is a loose group of individuals who go by the Anonymous banner and sport the same ideals as all other hackers from the group. The hacks picked up a lot of momentum, last year and different offshoots of the group emerged, which included LulzSec and AntiSec. Last year, LulzSec had officially called off their operations and stated that the group had disbanded. However, the group had still had to pay for the crimes they had committed. As per a report by Fox News, top members of LulzSec had been arrested and this was on account of information that was provided by their group leader, Sabu. The report states, “Charges against four of the five were based on a conspiracy case filed in New York federal court, FoxNews.com has learned. An indictment charging the suspects, who include two men from Great Britain, two from Ireland and an American in Chicago, is expected to be unsealed Tuesday morning in the Southern District of New York.”

Sabu snitches on LulzSec members

The report by Fox News states that sources have informed them stating, “The offshoot of the loose network of hackers, Anonymous, believed to have caused billions of dollars in damage to governments, international banks and corporations, was allegedly led by a shadowy figure FoxNews.com has identified as Hector Xavier Monsegur. Working under the Internet alias “Sabu,” the unemployed, 28-year-old father of two allegedly commanded a loosely organized, international team of perhaps thousands of hackers from his nerve center in a public housing project on New York’s Lower East Side. After the FBI unmasked Monsegur last June, he became a cooperating witness.”

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

As per related reports, Mikko Hypponen, Chief Research Officer at Finnish computer security company, F-Secure, said, “Sabu was seen as a leader … Now that Anonymous realizes he was a snitch and was working on his own for the Fed, they must be thinking: ‘If we can’t trust Sabu, who can we trust?’ It’s probably not going to be the end of Anonymous, but it’s going to take a while for them to recover, especially from the paranoia.” This sentiment is felt by other security experts as well with all off them echoing similar statements.

Let us know your reactions about Sabu snitching on his fellow hackers in the comments below.