'HACK' OF A JOB, CYBER CRIMINAL
Coder sprung for fighting Web villains
He was a supercanary for the feds — exposing and helping thwart more than 300 cyberattacks on the military, NASA, and other entities — and a judge on Tuesday rewarded the Lower East Side “hacktivist” for his efforts.
Chief Manhattan federal Judge Loretta Preska let Hector Xavier Monsegur off with just seven months in prison, which he has already served, for leading Lulz Sec, an offshoot of the notorious hacking group Anonymous.
Anonymous cyberattacked computer systems of Fox TV, Nintendo, PayPal and other businesses, stealing private information and then bragging about it online.
Citing his prolific informant work, Preska said: “You have done as much as any human being could do to make up for past wrongs, and I salute you.”
The 30yearold hacker — who used the alias “Sabu” — was also sentenced to one year of supervised release that includes a computermonitoring program.
“I am not the same person you saw here three years ago,” Monsegur said. “I am ready to move on.”
Preska offered him some career advice, saying, “You obviously have great skills. To deploy that skill for good would be a very good thing.”
The reformed hacker had faced 26 years behind bars.
Prosecutor James Pastore said Monsegur provided key information about “vulnerabilities to critical infrastructure,” including a water supply system in a major US city and a “supply chain” of a foreign energy company.
“He averted untold millions of dollars in damages,” Pastore said.
Monsegur provided evidence that helped convict eight Anonymous members worldwide, including US citizen Jeremy Hammond, who at the time of his 2012 arrest, was the FBI’s top cybercriminal target. Hammond in November was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his cyberattacks on the intelligence firm Stratfor and others.
Monsegur first started hacking at his Lower East Side apartment in the early 2000s, according to court documents. His aim then was to steal creditcard information and sell or use it to pay his own bills.
He began leading Lulz Sec in early 2011. When FBI agents showed up at Monsegur’s home in the summer of 2011, he immediately agreed to cooperate, giving agents a crash course on the workings and participants of Lulz Sec and Anonymous, Pastore said.