No More Lulz for LulzSec: Two Plead Guilty to Detrimental DDoS Attacks
Two British young men from the notorious hacker group known as LulzSec have pleaded guilty to a collection of government, media, and law enforcement website DDoS attacks from last year.
Ryan Cleary, 20, and Jake Davis, 19, both admitted today in London’s Southwark Crown Court they engaged in a slew of website takedowns on LulzSec’s behalf. Specifically, the two pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to do an unauthorized act or acts with intent to impair, or with recklessness as to impairing, the operation of a computer or computers.
Cleary alone faces a United States federal indictment in relation to his cyber attacks. He also confessed to providing illegally hijacked computer networks to be used in the DDoS attacks as well as breaking the Pentagon’s cyber-defenses by installing and/or altering files on U.S. Air Force Agency computers. Cleary’s attorney has said she would refute any moves to extradite her client to America.
Both men have denied any allegations that they posted unlawfully obtained data online through LulzSec’s own website, as well as The Pirate Bay and Pastebin.
The two other defendants in the case, Ryan Ackroyd and another unnamed young man, will face trial April 8 of next year. They have pleaded not guilty to the same charges brought on Cleary and Davis. All four have denied encouraging and/or assisting others to commit computer offenses.
Some of the sites targeted in these DDos attacks include the British Nation Health Services, New International, Sony, Nintendo, Arizona State Police, 20th Century Fox, PBS, and other CIA run websites.
