The Australian Federal Police have confirmed that they have arrested the alleged leader of notorious hacking group Lulzsec in Sydney.
Watch The Alleged LulzSec Leader Sing Along To Grease
The alleged leader of the group, which spent its time breaching the CIA, Sony and News Corporation lives in Point Claire, NSW.
He was arrested yesterday and is being charged with hacking offences. Federal Police say he’s the “self-proclaimed” member of Lulzsec.
The police allege that the man compromised and defaced a government website, triggering an investigation that led to his arrest.
The man is reportedly a senior member of staff at a prominent Sydney IT firm, and used his position of trust within the company to get access to sensitive information.
The AFP wanted to stress this morning that hacking isn’t just “harmless fun”, and that they will hunt down those who engage in security breaches and hacking activities around the country.
He was arrested in Sydney yesterday evening and was bailed to appear in Woy Woy Local Court on 15 May on the following 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 AFP said that the combined sentence for the charges — if found guilty of all three — is 12 years imprisonment. That’s heavy.
It’s worth noting that Anonymous members in Australia are claiming that the man arrested isn’t the leader, he’s just someone who participated in DDOS attacks every now and then (language warning):
This absolute bullshit great work feds u busted a ddos fag >> Self-proclaimed LulzSec hacking leader arrested in NSW http://t.co/DEhAogMBZQ
— Anonymous Australia (@AuAnon) April 23, 2013