Attack the Hackers

Authorities struck a big blow for law and order last week with their transatlantic busts of members of the hacking network behind last summer’s global cyber-attacks.

Five hackers — leaders of Lulzsec and its broader anarchist affiliate, Anonymous — were nabbed on conspiracy charges in Chicago, London and Ireland.

But the big break occurred right here last June, with the arrest of Hector Xavier Monsegur (a k a “Sabu”), who — remarkably — lives in the Jacob Riis public-housing complex on the Lower East Side.

(How fitting: The 28-year-old leader of Lulz-Sec, which is known for its anti-government, anti-capitalist rhetoric, chose to suckle on the public teat, while hard-working “capitalists” subsidized him — even though the programmer surely could have made a lucrative career in information technology.)

Monsegur pleaded guilty to 12 hacking-related charges and agreed to turn informant for the FBI, even as the Anonymous/lulzsec hack-attack continued.

Make no mistake: This wasn’t some innocuous, mischievous activity; targets included Web sites and computers belonging to the FBI, CIA, US Senate, UK Serious Organized Crime Agency, security firms, media and gaming companies and several foreign nations. It was high stakes, to say the least. The proprietary information that was leaked included valuable trade secrets, as well as private e-mail accounts, passwords and financial records. (Indeed, Monsegur helped support himself by selling private credit-card info to other hackers.)

Such widespread hacking has implications for property rights, national security, identity theft and energy security.

A-well-orchestrated hack of the national electric grid could make the great New York blackout of 1977 look like a picnic by comparison.

Monsegur faces a maximum of 124 years behind bars. His confederates need to get similarly tough sentences.

An important message must be sent: The menace of de facto cyber-terrorism won’t end here — just as putting bank robbers in jail doesn’t end bank robbery. But tough punishment sure as heck makes bank robbery a lot less frequent.

It needs to have the same impact on hacking schemes.