LulzSec Member Pleads Not Guilty In Stratfor Leak Case

TheGift73 writes with an update on one of the many LulzSec court cases. From the article: "A former LulzSec member has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he hacked into the servers of global intelligence company Stratfor and stole credit card data and personal details of 860,000 of its clients. Jeremy Hammond entered the plea on Monday during a brief hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the Associated Press reported. He's been held in federal custody since an initial court appearance in Chicago in early March, when federal prosecutors named him as a lieutenant of LulzSec ringleader Hector Xavier 'Sabu' Monsegur. There was no request for Hammond to be released on bail during Monday's hearing, according to the AP report."

Comments

What was that?

[Soporific]

I plead not guilty for the lulz your honor.

~S

Evidence...

[sortadan]

Since they arrested him they must have some good idea that its him, but it will be interesting to see what evidence they have, how it was collected, and how they can show it was only he who could have done the deed. With how easy it is to remotely control computers and especially if he had a wifi router, who's to say that his computer wasn't rooted and someone remotely did what he is accused of.

Re:Evidence...

[Anonymous Coward]

Who is to say? Anyone who has read the indictment could speak to that point. The feds have Mr. Hammond right where they want him and he doesn't want to be. They watched his apartment and correlated his presence there with the presence of "anarkaos" on IRC chatting with Sabu. Gosh, anarkaos left the chat right when Jeremy went to the store! His previous felony conviction for a similar crime is not going to help at sentencing, either.

Re:Evidence...

[Nidi62]

What is interesting is they name him the lieutenant of LulzSec ringleader Hector Xavier 'Sabu' Monsegur but in court the FBI testified that Hector Xavier 'Sabu' Monsegur was only a participant. Just so the FBI sort of drops the bullshit a lieutenant normally commands a platoon of around 30 men.

Now with the stooley the boss of 5 people, so as number 2, that only leaves 4 people that would make him more of a corporal not a lieutenant but I suppose if you are already lying in court and the ringleader becomes only a participant and then reverts to ringleader when you are accusing the claimed number 2, you might as well keep on lying. Now how exactly is the court meant to treat the FBI agents testimony when they lie and grossly exaggerate straight off the bat.

Lieutenant is not intended here as a military rank. Lieutenant has always been used in regards to crime as essentially middle management. A lieutenant isn't the top guy, but he usually takes his orders from the top guy and passes them down to the minions doing all the dirty work. Think of any old, bad mafia movie you may have seen. You have the Don sitting in his chair. The 2 guys standing behind him on either side of the chair? Those are his lieutenants. This is not the FBI lying to make him seem in charge of more people. They are using a common term for what they allege was his role in this attack.

Re:Evidence...

[mSparks43]

It's shocking to think a rooted computer needs to be switched on to be exploited.

Re:Evidence...

[NicBenjamin]

The problem is that circumstantial evidence is still convictable. For example all a fingerprint can do in most cases is place you at the crime scene. But if the crime scene is a stranger's house, you have no plausible reason to have been there, and you've got a criminal record already you are screwed.
In this case the only way the Feds could get evidence of this guy's IP being used in the forums, except for the five minutes he "happened to pop off to the shop" would be if the actual hacker was watching his door. Which would be difficult to pull off without getting caught because a) he'd have to be close enough to use this guy's wireless node, which means he's probably closer to the door then the cops, without being noticed by either guy or cops and b) the guy has publicly claimed to be a hacktivist which means there's no way a jury's gonna believe he didn't know his wi-fi was being stolen.

In other words if the cops have the time logs mentioned this guy is screwed.

Re:Evidence...

[philip.paradis]

I believe you've missed the point. Let me rehash it for you. Most people don't shut down their computers, or even put them into standby mode, when they step away from them to run a quick errand. For example, let's say a guy by the name of Leeth Axor decides he's temporarily grown weary of attaining world domination via proxy kiddie antics, and he's suddenly got a deep and abiding thirst for an ice cold Mega Caf Thirsty Boy Gulp fountain beverage. So he heads down to Snacks 'R Us on the corner to obtain said energy boosting goodness.

On the way to Snacks 'R Us, he's accosted by several young toughs who inquire as to the value of his footwear, but I digress. That's beside the point. What's important here is the fact that young Leeth has stepped away from his console (probably didn't even lock it, meaning his pants are indeed very baggy). Let's assume for the sake of argument that Captain Federali has a few of his mates monitoring our buddy Leeth's domicile via various means, including physical/photographic/videographic surveillance, in addition to Ultra Happy Fun network taps on his Super Badass Ultra Upgraded Home Broadband Connection, slurping up both his wireless emanations (did he really think SUPRHAX0R was a great key, really?) and sitting on a tap at the local coax/fiber interface as well. Thanks, Local ISP!

Now, the fun thing about in-depth physical and network surveillance is El Capitan's boys have a pretty darn good idea whether or not our hero's workstation is active or in a zombified state. You see, even when he's not actively using it to perpetrate acts of Great Justice upon the Evil Corporate Overlords of the world, that darn workstation is just a chirpin' away on the network anyhow. Sure, anything of value is ostensibly encrypted, but you gotta understand: that doesn't really matter here. Anyhow, I'm digressing again, I'll get to that last point in a minute. The key point here is this lets the Boys in Blue (well, cheap dark blue suits anyhow, or maybe coveralls to go with the construction logo on their van, whatever) know that ye olde workstation is, in fact, still lit up like a frat boy crashing his first sorority party on the gosh darned network.

Man, you know what? I was gonna keep this thing rolling, get into all sorts of fun anecdotes about MITM attacks, the potential for major CAs to be compromised by government actors, fun stories about naughty hardware/software injection combos, all sorts of stuff really. I really did mean to get to the part about how in the end it doesn't even matter if young Leeth actually powers his workstation off stone cold every time he goes to take a crap. The trouble is, I'm kinda tired right now, so you're just gonna have to wait until tomorrow (maybe, or maybe the next day, I dunno) for the rest of the gripping tale. Sorry to let you down tonight, but never fear, you'll get to hear the whole story eventually. Peace out for now, champ.

The best defense is a good offense.

[MRe_nl]

News that Stratfor, the "private intelligence service," has been whacked by Anonymous has brought the former organization and its reputation into sharp focus. The fact that Stratfor hadn't bothered to fulfill one of the lowest requirements of cybernetic security -- encrypting sensitive client data -- is one of the most damaging things that can be said about any company in the digital age, much less an "international security organization." This intrusion went quite a bit farther than most -- the Guy Fawkes boys actually managed to extract funds (a reported $500,000 worth) from Stratfor's clients (whom the company insists on calling "members"), which they then gave to charities. The humiliation here is total, and Stratfor will be lucky to survive.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/01/the_stratfor_scandal.html

The Real Lulz

[musial]

The real lulz come from the fact that people take Stratfor seriously, and continue to use their overblown moniker of "private intelligence firm". They were/are a news aggregating group that sold stale news articles from REAL news organizations like ITAR TASS and Xinhua. And since most American corporate executives never heard of ITAR TASS, Xinhua, ABN, etc. etc., they were able to pawn it off as their own work. Not only did they sell old news, but they charged a huge price for it. They were essentially an expensive HuffPo with a wanna-be CIA spook edge for effect. Not surprising at all that they didn't encrypt their data, or provide any real security.

Re:The Real Lulz

[NicBenjamin]

Spoken like someone who never used their services.

StratFor is completely different from HuffPo. StratFor staff aren't unpaid people looking for exposure, they're full-time employees. They don't have more access then anybody else, but they do tend to know stuff in their narrow specialties. They don't have an ideological axe to grind, and they won't be beaten up by party thugs under any circumstances.

Look at it this way. Is there an ITAR-TASS article that tells you that the Rwandan-backed Congolese Militia is winning the war because the Rwandan regular Army is capable of coordinating long-distance flanking attacks with satellite phones? Did Xinhua even bother publishing a single story on that war, that didn't focus on Chinese economic performance and/or human interesty crap like how much it sucks to run from said Rwandan Army? I'm not saying that stuff doesn't have it's place, or that it wasn't really important that the Rwandans were causing a massive refugee crisis that probably killed more people then the genocide. I'm just saying that if you wanted a clear view of what was happening on the ground, without distractions intended to suck in viewers who don't understand/care about the difficulties of coordinating flanking movements in the African bush; Stratfor was a godsend.

Or another example. Which ITAR TASS story tells the Somali faction is associated with the Marehan sub-clan of Clan Darod? Did it include a handy map, allowing you to see which areas of the country said faction controlled? Did it mention whether enough Red Berets survived the fall of the Barre regime to stiffen that organization?

I'll be the first to admit that Stratfor is a shitty intelligence agency. It's probably inferior to the Danes, Mozambicans, or any country bigger then Iceland. But it's also the only one available to ordinary Americans who are interested in intelligence.

I know this guy.

[Chas]

And, unlike his fawning sycophants, I'm going to call him what he is.

A douchebag. Plain and simple.

I was involved with the FBI and helped them put him away the first time.
It's a sad commentary that a couple years in prison didn't straighten him out at all.
I've seen his name pop up a couple times in local news. Usually for some new random act of overweening stupidity.
I'm just stunned that he stooped to credit card theft AGAIN.

Then again, with his record, and his lack of anything even resembling social skills, he's damn near unemployable.

But Jeremy now has what he always desired. A national audience. And, unfortunately, there are just enough brain-sick slobs out there for whom his half-witted messsage is attractive. And he's got a martyr complex the size of the Sears Tower.

He basically belongs in prison, deprived of computer access. Hopefully they'll send him someplace slightly harsher than FCI Greenville this time.

Not Much Choice

[glorybe]

The potential penalties or so severe that pleading not guilty might be his only hope. Frankly i hope he wins.

Been there, done that.

[droopus]

I spent 52 months in Feds from 2006 - 2010. IMVHO, this is what's happening, at least on the legal side. He will never get bail. He's innocent till proven guilty, of course, but fed bail is supposedly all about flight risk. "Danger to the community" implies guilt so it can't be used..technically. The question for the Magistrate (who usually decides bail, not the Trial Judge) is: does a set of conditions exist which will assure the defendant's appearance at court? And that, is typically up to the US Attorney or AUSA. I did not get bail and was held at Donald W Wyatt Detention Center in Central Falls, RI for 22 months before finally pleading out.

If Hammond goes to trial, he will never get out. 92% of all fed criminal cases plead out. Why? Because when the choice is possibly three mandatory life sentences vs five years, you end up taking the lesser of two evils. The Feds add all sorts of sentencing enhancements to make it so risky to roll the dice with a jury, it just isn't worth it. I was not guilty of the offense it was claimed I committed, but I couldn't risk the rest of my life on being able to convince 12 people too stupid to get out of jury duty.

Hammond's other option is USSG 5K1.1 (Sentence reduction for substantial assistance in convicting another criminal.) The Government must submit a motion for this reduction, IF they like what you snitch. There are other options such as the Safety Valve (for which Hammond is not eligible due to previous offenses. Rapper T.I. got out of prison after like 18 months for machine guns and silencers because he gave the Government substantial assistance. Real gangsta.

If Hammond miraculously gets out anytime within the next ten years, he got a 5K1.1, most likely. When the feds want you, you're fucked.

Re:the fact that we refer

[DrVomact]

Some of those card numbers belonged to people. If I'd gotten a real job right out of college I woulda been one of the first to buy their service. It was $99 a year, and I was too poor/cheap to swing it.

I doubt many of those people were actually screwed by the hack. Contesting charges is not hard. The last analysis I saw actually indicated that the charities Anon "gasve" money to actually lost out on the deal because they had to process both the payment and cancelling the payments.

Yeah, and I was one of those people to whom one of those credit card numbers belonged. I got a deeply discounted membership to Stratfor for a year, but then didn't renew it because I didn't think their news service was worth $99 per annum. While I didn't get any false charges on my credit card, I was inconvenienced by the perpetrators of this hack because my bank cancelled my credit card, and required me to get a new one. I then had to contact to everyone who was automatically billing my charges to that credit card, and give them the new number. Inevitably, I missed a couple, and got some late charges. It wasn't a disaster, but it was certainly inconvenient.

What really angers me about incidents of this type is the tone of moral superiority taken by their perpetrators and certain members of the community who support them. Somehow, these faceless actors are ascribed the right to judge which people and which organizations are evil, and to mete out punishment accordingly. If they have such a right, then we will soon arrive at the stage where no one has any rights.