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LulzSec Suspect Arrested By UK Police

An anonymous reader writes "The UK's Police Computer e-Crime Unit (PCeU) has arrested a 19-year-old man in Wickford, Essex, in connection with the series of LulzSec attacks against organizations including the CIA, PBS and Sony. The man, who has been arrested under the Computer Misuse and Fraud Act, has had his house searched and a significant amount of material taken away by police for forensic examination. The PCeU worked with local Essex police and the FBI on the investigation."

23 of 361 comments (clear)

  1. It must be Tuesday by cultiv8 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's important to note at this point that it has not been confirmed that the arrested man is suspected of being involved with LulzSec by the authorities. But many observers are speculating that that could be the case.

    So this "news" article is nothing but speculation?

    --
    sysadmins and parents of newborns get the same amount of sleep.
    1. Re:It must be Tuesday by rapiddescent · · Score: 4, Informative

      in other news, the usually vocal Lulzsec twitter feed stopped at the same time as the arrest.

    2. Re:It must be Tuesday by Rijnzael · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So they went after the LulzSec mouthpiece instead of after someone involved with their illicit activities. Certainly the weakest link in the chain, but I wonder realistically how much this will limit LulzSec.

    3. Re:It must be Tuesday by Kenshin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Hey, they got Bin Laden through his courier. All they need is a bit of intelligence from this guy (I know, "lulz" and "intelligence" don't exactly go together), and they can get pretty far.

      --

      Does it make you happy you're so strange?

  2. Re:It's prison time by Bob+Gelumph · · Score: 5, Informative

    How about some due process, first?

    --
    I'm gonna need a spec.
  3. Opening arguments by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Funny

    Opening arguments next month:

    Judge: "Can the defendant please state, for the record, why they felt it was necessary to take down several high-profile website, costing those companies hundreds of thousands in lost income, cleanup costs, and angry support calls?"

    Defendant's Lawyer: "Ah, your honor, let the record show... they did it for the 'lulz'".

    Judge: "I see. Well, in the spirit of their crime, sentencing will be 'for the lulz'."

    --
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    1. Re:Opening arguments by txmcse · · Score: 3, Funny

      Oh, that would be great! Let's hope the judge works in "the oceans", "aiming the guns", "butthurt", and "the long arm of the lulz" :)

    2. Re:Opening arguments by DamienRBlack · · Score: 4, Funny

      Judge: "You are sentenced to 1337 years."

  4. Wait. Is he a suspect or not? by chemicaldave · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's important to note at this point that it has not been confirmed that the arrested man is suspected of being involved with LulzSec by the authorities. But many observers are speculating that that could be the case.

    How can you go from that to "Lulzsec suspect arrested?"

    1. Re:Wait. Is he a suspect or not? by Nidi62 · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's important to note at this point that it has not been confirmed that the arrested man is suspected of being involved with LulzSec by the authorities. But many observers are speculating that that could be the case.

      How can you go from that to "Lulzsec suspect arrested?"

      This is Slashdot

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  5. Re:It's prison time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Give me a break. If it is THAT vulnerable where a hacker can access a system then they are going after the wrong person. It isn't like this guy is in the country. You can't just go after anybody you please. It isn't reasonable. They can't catch guys operating out of North Korea, Sudan, Iran, or Cuba. There should be standards that developers have to live up to or I should say the products. If they don't then the companies selling said products should be the ones held liable. Yes- it means increased costs. That is what would be reasonable. Just because you catch a handful of the people who can exploit these systems because those systems are so easy to exploit does not fix the problem. It is stupid to go after the very people who are finding the holes rather than fixing the damm holes.

  6. Re:It's prison time by cgeys · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, you try breaking in to a house and after that try to explain it with "well, they should had armored their door and made better locks".

  7. Re:It's prison time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's lulzier without it.

  8. Re:It's prison time by WiglyWorm · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sounds like you hate America, son.

  9. Re:It's prison time by girlintraining · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How about some due process, first?

    They've been arrested. The public is watching. There will be a trial. How much more due process do you think a criminal deserves? These guys aren't going to some secret military prison to be tortured because their second cousin twice removed once had a bad thought about his government...

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  10. Re:It's prison time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    You're missing the point. The parent is criticising the grand parent for automatically labelling him as guilty and already saying what his sentence is, before any due process has taken place..

  11. Re:It's prison time by girlintraining · · Score: 5, Funny

    You're missing the point. The parent is criticising the grand parent for automatically labelling him as guilty and already saying what his sentence is, before any due process has taken place..

    Yeah. On the internet, we call that 'tuesday'.

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
  12. Suspect is not "Mastermind" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    I know it makes for boring news but apparently Ryan Cleary did nothing except host the IRC where lulzsec had a channel.

  13. LulzSec Responds by abyssalson · · Score: 5, Insightful

    LulzSec has already responded on Twitter. "Seems the glorious leader of LulzSec got arrested, it's all over now... wait... we're all still here! Which poor bastard did they take down?"

    1. Re:LulzSec Responds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      If they're anything like Anonymous, they won't stand by their fallen comrade, unlike actual guerrilla groups.

      This will breed resentment among the ranks (why work for people who won't have your back?) and LuzSec will fall apart.

  14. Re:It's prison time by Rennt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They've been arrested. The public is watching. There will be a trial. How much more due process do you think a criminal deserves?

    Alleged criminal.

    If the courts are as quick to jump to conclusions as you, then all the publicity in the world won't buy him due process.

  15. Re:In all seriousness by LWATCDR · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Because attacking a PBS website because they broadcast a story you didn't like makes all of us safer. I mean no need in hearing any news story that might upset us now is there?
    I hope the catch as many as possible. They have attacked freedom of speech and freedom of the press. They have hurt many innocent consumers if not out right hurt them all for the lulz. You have a really odd idea what good work is.

    --
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  16. Re:It's prison time by bws111 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are two separate issues: did the hackers make unauthorized use of a computer, and was the computer adequately protected. These are independent. There are laws against unauthorized use of computers, and they do not specify some 'degree of difficulty' before they are effective, nor should they. Unauthorized use is unauthorized use, period. There may or may not be laws regarding protection of data. However, even if there are, violation of THAT law would be a separate crime, and in no way would excuse someone who violated the unauthorized use law.

    And your analogy is much worse than the house analogy. The hackers actually did damage - they released account info, DDOS'd servers etc. To complete your analogy, the bomb must actually be detonated. If that were the case, I doubt anyone would be defending the person who did it as some kind of hero for pointing out a security weakness.