Saturday 20 April 2013

LulzSec hacker jailed for Sony Pictures attack

A hacker who was involved in an attack by the LulzSec group on Sony Pictures Entertainment was sentenced in Los Angeles to a year in prison.Cody Kretsinger, 25, who used the online moniker "Recursion," pleaded guilty in April 2012 to one count each of conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer.On Thursday he was jailed by a federal judge and also ordered s to perform 1,000 hours of community service after his release.
Kretsinger was a member of LulzSec, an offshoot of the international hacking group Anonymous, that took credit for a string of attacks in spring 2011 on government and private sector websites.
During last year's plea hearing, he told a federal judge that he gained access to the Sony Pictures website and gave the information he found there to other members of LulzSec, who posted it on the group's website and Twitter.
Prosecutors said Kretsinger and other LulzSec hackers ultimately caused the unit of Sony Corp more than $600,000 in damage.Kretsinger's plea came a month after court documents revealed that Anonymous leader "Sabu," whose real name is Hector Xavier Monsegur, had pleaded guilty to hacking-related charges and provided the FBI with information on fellow hackers.
Prosecutors have declined to say if Kretsinger was also cooperating with authorities in exchange for leniency.
Anonymous and its offshoots, including LulzSec and AntiSec, focused initially on fighting attempts at Internet regulation and the blocking of free illegal downloads, but have since taken on other targets including Scientology and the global banking system.
Anonymous, and LulzSec in particular, grabbed the spotlight in late 2010 when they launched what they called the "first cyber war" in retaliation for attempts to shut down the Wikileaks website.
Last week a 26-year-old British man pleaded guilty in that country to carrying out cyber attacks on targets including Sony and Nintendo as part of LulzSec while using the online persona of a 16-year-old girl named Kayla.

No comments:

Post a Comment