An influential computer hacker turned FBI informant led investigators to his former accomplices, helping federal agents make their first significant crack into Anonymous, a cybergroup that attacks corporate and government websites, reports USA Today. Four members of the international computer hacking group LulzSec were charged Tuesday with a worldwide conspiracy after the legendary hacker known in Internet circles as Sabu exposed the inner workings of the sophisticated attacks.
LulzSec hackers are allegedly part of a loose confederation of computer saboteurs known as Anonymous, which has “waged a deliberate campaign of online destruction, intimidation and criminality,” according to an indictment made public Tuesday in a federal court in New York. Twitter, where many hackers boast of their conquests, lit up with recriminations after the indictment disclosed that Hector Xavier Monsegur, 28, of New York, had pleaded guilty to federal hacking charges in August. He worked for the FBI for eight months following his June 7 arrest, according to a sworn statement by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Christensen.