A US grand jury has indicted LulzSec hacker Ryan Cleary, 20, on ThursdayA LulzSec hacker has been indicted in the US by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles on Thursday. UK resident Ryan Cleary, 20, is charged with one count of conspiracy and two counts of the unauthorized impairment of protected computers .
Cleary was arrested by authorities last year in connection to the high-profile Sony PlayStation hack that compromised approximately 100 million users private information through a DDoS attack.
LulzSec was behind many of the major attacks last year, and illustrated security weaknesses with many of the top websites on the Internet. Since the arrests, web hosts and security providers have had to work extra hard at keeping networks secure and alleviate security concerns of customers reading the hacker headlines in the news.
Cleary is currently incarcerated while facing foreign prosecution in England, according to a press release by the FBI.
Less than three months ago, the FBI arrested five alleged members of LulzSec that had links to the security breaches of Fox, Sony, and PBS. A sixth hacker and alleged FBI informant, Hector Xavier Monsegur, pleaded guilty for computer hacking conspiracies.
The first count of the indictment alleges that from April 2011 to June 2011, Cleary conspired with LulzSec members to intentionally cause damage to a news organization and several businesses. The botnet that started the DDoS attacks against many organizations during this time period belonged to Cleary, the FBI says, and he would rent out his botnet for certain time periods in exchange for money from individuals interested in attacking specific victims.
If Cleary is convicted in the US, he could face a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
The investigation was conducted by the Electronic Crimes Task Force in LA, which includes agents and officers from the FBI, US Secre Service, LAPD, LA County Sheriff’s Department, US Attorney’s Office, LA County District Attorney’s Office, and the California Highway Patrol.
Talk back: What do you think about the indictment? Do you think that arresting the top members of hacker groups like LulzSec will help improve security online? Let us know in a comment.
Nicole Henderson writes full-time for the Web Host Industry Review where she covers daily news and features online, as well as in print. She has a bachelor of journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto, and has been writing for the WHIR since September 2010. You can find her on Twitter @NicoleHenderson.
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