Sabu: The confessions of a hacker turncoat
British teenager Jake Davis was arrested in July 2011 on suspicion of hacking as a member of the LulzSec collective. He was reportedly one of several LulzSec members to be charged in New York on March 6, 2012.
LulzSec hacker Sabu, now famous for turning on Anonymous and the global hacker community to work with the FBI, made an official confession as part of a plea deal at the Lower Manhattan federal court seven months ago. Details of that confession were released by Ars Technica.
In the confession, Sabu, who's real name is Hector Monsegur, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of hacking, bank fraud and identity theft. Facing 122 years in prison, Sabu was sentenced to a minimum of two years in prison and agreed to pay restitution to the victims of the hacks he was involved in.
After Judge Loretta Preska asked Sabu to detail his past illegal action in a full confession, Sabu gave the following response.
All of the illegal conduct I am about to admit took place between 2010 and 2011. All of the conduct also involved the use of a computer located in Manhattan. I was not authorized to gain access to any of the computer systems involved in my offense conduct. For the conduct referred to in Counts One to Eight it was my intent to cause damage to these systems. As a result of this conduct, damages of $5,000 occurred in each instance…
I agreed with others to participate in a scheme, and I personally participated in a DoS attack on computer systems, PayPal, MasterCard, and Visa. I also participated in those attacks against computer systems of Tunisia and Algeria. In addition, I attempted to obtain information from the EAGLE server of Zimbabwe. I knew my conduct was illegal…
I agreed with others to participate in the scheme and personally participated in obtaining access to a PBS Web site and defaced it…I also participated to gaining access to computer systems used by Sony Pictures and stole confidential information… I also participated in a cyber attack on the systems of Infraguard-Atlanta… I agreed with others and personally participated in cyber attacks on the systems of HBGary and Fox resulting in a loss of more than $5,000, and I knew my conduct was illegal.
The Judge later asked that all documents surrounding the case be sealed as Sabu may find himself in "great personal danger" should information of his working as an informant be leaked.
Members of Anonymous and other hacking collectives have long suspected Sabu of being a snitch. Sam Biddle at gizmodo.com published a chat log last year where he spoke to a Sabu-detractor by the name of Virus, claiming the LulzSec hacker was an informant.