Arrested Hacker Trolls Australian Feds, Claims to be "Leader of LulzSec"

Arrested "hacker" had a flashy desk job; Anonymous laughs at his wild claims

"It seems you have been living..two lives. In one life, you're Thomas A. Anderson, program writer for a respectable software company....you pay your taxes, and you...help your landlady carry out her garbage. The other life is lived in computers, where you go by the hacker alias...and are guilty of virtually every computer crime we have a law for."
--The Matrix (1999)

I. Sydney Police Catch Corporate Man Moonlighting as a "Hecker"

That quote echoes the situation that a senior staffer at a "prominent" IT firm finds himself in after he was apprehended Monday evening by Australian Federal Police (AFP) following his alleged defacement of an Australian federal government website.  The AFP warns that hacking isn't just "harmless fun" and that they'll hunt down lawbreakers.

The alleged hacker -- or "hecker" as Anonymous sometimes says -- has been released on bail and will be tried in Woy Woy Local Court in Sydney on three computer crimes charges:
 

Two counts of unauthorised modification of data to cause impairment, contrary to section 477.2 of the Criminal Code Act 1995; and

One count of unauthorised access to, or modification of, restricted data, contrary to section 478.1 of the Criminal Code Act 1995.

_{The Australian Federal Police have caught themselves a hecker.
[Image Source: The Daily Telegraph]}

The maximum penalties for the offenses are two years and ten years, respectively.

II. Suspect Claims to be King of LulzSec, Australian Police Get Excited

Authorities report that the man made the astounding claim to be the "leader of LulzSec".  You may recall that LulzSec was the group that in 20111 hacked Sony Corp. (TYO:6758) several times and also breached government sites.  Most of the folks from LulzSec are already in custody or in prison.  And most sources indicate that hacker-turned-double agent for the U.S. federal government Hector Xavier Monsegur (handles: "Sabu", "Xavier DeLeon", and "Leon") was the group's true leader.

Usually when a real LulzSec leader/hacker gets arrested, there's major Twitter traffic, with members of LulzSec parent hacker league Anonymous confirming the validity of the claim.  In this case, it appears the AFP -- and the members of the media who unquestioningly carried their claims -- have been duped.  The local Anonymous branch's Twitter account carried the disclaimer:
So it sounds like the hacker may either have been looking to get famous on the internet or simply trolling the Australian police.  Either way, they bit, parroting his claims proudly at their press conference.

_{It appeared the AFP were trolled. [Image Source: LulzSec]}

This isn't the first time hackers have made a mockery of the Australian feds.  Back in 2009 they claimed to be hack-proof, a claim which earned them a prompt hacking by Anonymous.

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Posted in: hacking news