The Australian Federal Police has released more information on the man they’re calling the “self-proclaimed leader” of Lulzsec. According to the AFP the man is a well respected IT Professional working at the local branch of an international company. The AFP believe he had access to sensitive information from multiple different clients, including government agencies.
Lulzsec was the group that claimed responsibility for hacks into multiple different game companies, including Sony, who was hacked in response to legal action taken against George ‘Geohotz’ Hotz.
“Those thinking of engaging in such activities should be warned that hacking, creating or propagating malicious viruses or participating in Distributed Denial of Service attacks are not harmless fun,” said Commander Glen McEwen, from Cyber Crime Operations.
“Criminal acts such as this can result in serious long-term consequences for individuals, such as criminal convictions or imprisonment.”
According to the press release, the AFP believes the man’s knowledge and skills “presented a significant risk to the clients of the company for which he was employed had he continued his illegal online activities.”
The man was arrested yesterday at work in Sydney, after investigators discovered that government website had been compromised. Apparently the internal mechanisms of the website were altered and an image within the website was altered, but the AFP would provide no further details.
He has been charged on two counts of “unauthorised modification of data to cause impairment”, offenses which carry a potential jail term of 10 years.
UPDATE: The AFR has revealed more information about the suspect, including his name, company and client list.
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