UK-based The Guardian reported Cody Kretsinger admitted in court he and other Lulz Security hackers caused Sony Pictures Entertainment $600,000 in damages.
Kretsinger pleaded guilty in a California federal court to one count each of conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer in a deal with prosecutors, the report said.
Sentencing is scheduled for July 26, and Kretsinger faces up to 15 years in prison, although the report said he may receive a much lower sentence.
"I joined LulzSec, Your Honor, at which point we gained access to the Sony Pictures website," Kretsinger, who went by the hacking moniker "Recursion," told the judge after entering his guilty plea, the report said.
LulzSec, a group of hackers occasionally allied with the hacktivist group Anonymous, had claimed credit for hacking several government and private sector websites last year.
Kretsinger said he gave the information he got from the Sony site to other members of LulzSec, who then posted it onto the group's website and on Twitter.
He and other LulzSec hackers, including those known as "Sabu" and "Topiary," stole the personal information of thousands of people after launching an "SQL injection" attack on the website.
The attacks caused Sony Pictures Entertainment over $600,000 in damages, the court heard.
Anonymous and its offshoots including LulzSec and AntiSec focused initially on fighting attempts at Internet regulation and blocking of free illegal downloads.
But they eventually expanded their list of targets to include Scientology and the global banking system, and corporate websites.
In late 2010, LulzSec and Anonymous launched what they called the "first cyber war" in retaliation for attempts to shut down the WikiLeaks website.
They also attacked websites including MasterCard.com, which had tried to block payments to WikiLeaks after apparent pressure from the US government following the release of diplomatic cables online. — LBG, GMA News
No comments:
Post a Comment