Meet the Hackers Our World

Those are the headlines. It is now time for Our World. We have an

exclusive insight into the life of Greeting citizens of the world, we

are Anonymous. The summer of 2011 and the world is getting to grips

with a new form of protest. revolution has begun. We are legion.

We do not forgive, we do not forget. A revolution conducted online by

hackers, people who carry out attacks in cyberspace. It is not a

game. This is a crime. It is purely using technology to commit that

crime on a global scale. I don't feel like a criminal. I do like a

kid who put his career did to it -- creativity into the wrong place at

the wrong time. This revolution involved attacks on computers and

websites. Carried out by so-called hacktivists, leaderless but grouped

under the name of the Anonymous. Then, LulzSec appears. A jokey

splinter group, more chaotic than Anonymous. Was it acted like a rock

band. The members were like rock stars. They were entertainers.

Anonymous, they said they wanted information on the internet are to

be free, but LulzSec also wanted to have a laugh. So was LulzSec just a

bunch of cyber jokers or a threat that had to be taken seriously? In

an exclusive interview, we speak to one of the group's key members

before he was imprisoned. A rare glimpse into the secretive world of

The LulzSec hacking group held the online world and role as they

wanted went on at -- went on a hacking spree. The name derives

from the internet would for laughs. They caused chaos, hacking media

companies, security firms, police, the CIA and the FBI. There were

many associates, but half a dozen or so central characters. Each had

their own role and online name. In the real world, the members of

LulzSec never met. They lived continents apart. This small group

of individuals, most of whom have now been arrested, lived out their

lives online. They adopted colourful characters as they

crashed Web sites and published the data they act. The oldest of the

group was Hector Montsegur, known as Sabu. He was New York-based and

the closest the group had to a leader. Worcester Fire I'll buy

some was the youngest. Based in the UK and known as T Flo -- Tflow.

Ryan agreed was also based in the UK. His name was Kayla. AVUnit, the

identity of them remains unknown to this day. And finally the group's

head of communications and unlikely PR man. Jake Davis, also known as

Topiary. This is the first time he has agreed to a television

interview. Aspects of myself went into it. It was an exaggerated

version of the things I couldn't be. I think Topiary is a lot more

confident than I am. I'm speaking At the time, Jake was 17 and living

on the remote Shetland Islands off the north coast of Scotland. His

parents split up when he was very young and then when Jake was just

13 his stepfather died in a car school, he became a near recluse.

His mother and brother moved to England and Jake was alone. He

rejected the real world for internet chat rooms. I literally

just made friends of mine. The computer screen was like a God's

eye view of the world to me. Utter isolation day and night, so that

sleeping patterns were all over the place. When your friend based its

existent only through the internet, time-zones 11 become kind of

irrelevant. I would sleep during the day and feel no responsibility.

It was a very limited world. It is a world that you can see and hear,

but that's it. You cannot feel it ought touch it or censored. It is a

world devoid of empathy. It is a very cynical world and I became

very cynical inside it. Parmy Olson is a journalist who wrote about

many of LulzSec's attacks. She has since spoken to the key players

about the time they spent planning and discussing hacks online in chat

rooms. Like-minded communities were conversations are fast moving,

often intense and introspective. They can be very lively 1 minute

but also very negative the next. There can be a lot of backbiting

and bitchiness as well. It is very up and down. If you imagine the

kind of office politics that you experience in a normal office,

multiply that by three and that is what you get. These guys get

distressed and very emotional, even though they are just sitting there.

The thing they are connected to is an incredibly dramatic world. It is

The attacks took two forms. The first of faded an organisation's

security to infiltrate, then extract data. Sometimes come today

told. They then published that for the world to see. The second, known

as a DDoS, used thousands of commuters to fund a website until

it crashed. The group used -- discussed these attacks on hidden

parts of the internet but most of us are not aware of it. In London

they might beat areas which you know have more crime. You do not go

there unless you have a reason. The same thing applies to the internet.

There are shady areas of the internet. Areas completely outside

of the normal weather. Services and systems were you need special

clients to even see the discussions going on. It means normal people

have no idea about the dark side of the internet existing, but it

certainly does. The internet is just a reflection of the real world,

so it probably will always exist. LulzSec's targets were an eclectic

mix, only loosely political, often prankish in nature. Members of the

group had been indicted in the US for allegedly stealing and

publishing a database containing details of 70,000 potential

contestants for the X Factor. In the UK, some have pleaded guilty to

hacking the website of the Sun and replacing its front page with a

false story that Rupert Murdoch had been found dead in his garden. The

name is also linked to a tax on Sony, when the games company was or

under fire from hackers across the internet, angry about what they saw

as the company's blase approach to keeping people status secured. --

people's data. The way the group spoke to the world to find the

personality of it. There was an element of spin as well. There were

a lot of other splinter groups like LulzSec that were around at the

time that have come out since then that didn't get anywhere near the

kind of notoriety that they did. It is not just because LulzSec was

great and communicating and was witty and funny on Twitter and put

at prolific press releases. The Chatterjee journalists and whatever

else. -- they chatted to. It was because they had one or two very

skilled hackers within the group. It was a convoy once of the

circumstances. This meeting of minds and a small group of people

who were getting closer and closer until what they made -- made what

they thought was an elite team to inspire Anonymous. Definitely the

issue of communicating and PR was so important in creating this

mirage of a dangerous organisation and a threatening group. LulzSec

had grabbed the attention of the world's media with the taunting,

light-hearted tone of the publicity around their attacks. Taking a shot

at big companies was one thing, but in among their targets were several

law enforcement agencies. On that we their feet, LulzSec boasted

about bringing down the website linked to the FBI. They crashed the

CIA's home side and sought to embarrass those whose job it is to

investigate insider crime, the UK's serious crime -- Serious Organised

Crime Agency, by forcing the website of line. Attacking the

police was a step too far, according to Mikko Hirvonen, who

spent the last 20 use tracking viruses and looking for the people

who create them. It is clear that law-enforcement LulzSec personally,

for a reason. It was very brazenly going after more enforcement

targets. They were attacking law- enforcement starts in the US,

recording their conference calls between Europe and the USA. A low.

It is Bruce. This is what he is talking about. A packed conference

call between Scotland Yard and the FBI, recorded and published in the

name of Anonymous. We set back the further arrests of Kayla and Tflow.

The fact that the world could tune in and listen to the cyber crime

teams as they discussed pursuit of LulzSec was acutely embarrassing

for law enforcement. I just saw the information about the big cyber

conference in Sheffield. I'm going to be able to come? I think so, yes.

I have never been to Sheffield. you have missed nothing. Really?

I'm afraid so. It is not really a Jo Hall in England's crown.

jewel. The police in that call did meet up in Sheffield, where local

academics keen to encourage young enthusiasts to take an interest in

computer coding by deliver -- developing their own computer games.

What we need to do is we need to go into here and we need to pull an

Here at Sheffield Hallam University's against Britannia

event, schoolchildren are being taught how to use standard games

One of the academics at the same university briefed the police on

cyber security and was then asked to get involved in the LulzSec case.

This is a visual interpretation of the data which allows us to know

where the attacks are coming from. This is basically the hackers who

have breached the system using an overflow attack. Dr David Day was

unpicking evidence on the computer hard drive or Tflow, one of the

most technically competent of the loss of hackers. How good a hacker

was he? He was very good. He was using the appropriate tools for

performing this kind of activity. He was well versed in their use. He

knew how to write code and right malicious scripts to a level which

far exceeds somebody of his age. surprised many did eventually find

out how young he was? I was very surprised. Well wouldn't have

imagine somebody of that age would have had the time to accumulate

that level of knowledge and expertise. Did you yourself find

you are becoming immersed in this world? Totally absorbed. For

probably about two weeks. I didn't do an awful lot else. I spent a lot

of my time hold up working long hours. On occasions where I found

something but I thought was exciting, I got animated and baby

stayed up till the early hours of the morning or sometimes in the

night I would wake up with an idea and have no option other to get up

and test my hypothesis. I totally understand how hacking can be

thrilling. I can identify with the thrill of the challenge of it and

the sort of emotional reward but The challenge is to convince young

people that being on the right side of the internet can be as rewarding

as being on the dark side of the Internet. Jake pleaded guilty to an

agency that he says is based on an exchange and a chat room. That page

was the first thing that was presented to me in terms of giving

evidence. Conspiracy to commit computer abuse in two lines of text

on a computer screen. I tight thousands of lines of text per day.

And these two lines stick with you. They are a separate charge that is

punishable by up to ten years in prison. I guess it does not matter

about how long it is, it is what it says. I completely agree.Do you

regret getting involved? I regret 95% of the things I have ever typed

on the internet. Especially those lines of going after this people,

why not? It obviously did hurt. still come across individuals who

do not appreciate that committing an attack on the internet is

exactly the same as committing a physical type of attack. It has

real world impact at the end of the day. Whether that his financial

loss, reputation no harm or emotional harm. It is using

technology to commit that crime. It actually makes the attacks easier

to commit on a larger scale, on a global scale. At the time of the

attack, the identities of the crew were still unknown. But it is

possible that Chick had already let down his defences. His voice was

recognisable in a life had performed on the West radio show

against the Westborough Baptist Church, an outspoken fundamentalist

group with anti-gay views. This was really 2011. Just as they were

getting started. It appears to be from Anonymous. You are being quite

carefree. What is the worst thing that can happen? The worst thing

that happens, it gets 500,000 be used in 12 hours. -- be used. I had

a cold sweat after that. Tonight, inside the almost impenetrable

world of hacking. On 24th June, 2011, on Newsnight, we spoke to

Topiary. He came across as is usual on Mansell. In reality, he was in

turmoil. That is because earlier in the US, members had attacked the

Arizona state police. In protest against new laws on immigration.

They released private intelligence material common names, addresses

and phone numbers of officers. was the big turning point for

myself and others. There was no point to this. It is harming police

officers. It does not entertain or help anyone. I am not this person,

I decided. I am just some kid in a bedroom. I decided to leave it. I

shut down my laptop. I decided to live a simple, normal teenage life.

I found it hard to get this across to other hackers. The group was

falling apart. America's Federal Bureau of Investigation had a new

weapon. Just prior to the abyss and hack, one of the founders and the

closest the group had to a leader had been arrested. He was living in

New York at the time. He was responsible for his nieces. He was

fearful of what Huck might happen to them if he was imprisoned. He

turned into an informer for the F B I. I had my suspicions after he

disappeared from the internet for 24 hours. He came back to the

internet and was beginning to act a little bit different. You are not

come to be able to uphold the same personality. There were a few that

suspected immediately, within the first ten minutes. Why are we

speaking to this person, why are we allowing him to goad us? There must

be something. But some people thought, who cares if he is? Jake

was arrested in the UK on 27th July, 2011. He said: you are obviously a

bright person. You told us you were isolated. You must have been able

to think that there were consequences. At the time and in

the context I was 17. Quite mentally unstable and in a bad

place. At times I could see through the internet. Hauser pressed

everything else was. I thought there was consequences, but who

cares? I was just enjoying the attention. Experts have little

doubt that Lulzsec will be remembered. They achieved notoriety

online and in the real world in the brief time they existed. But the

outcome has not been a happy one for any of the Lulzsec crew. Sadhu

is awaiting trial in the US, charged with crimes that include

not just hacking, but bank fraud. He could face 124 years behind bars.

Another man was given a 120 month suspended sentence. He will serve

no time, but will have to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work. Bryan

Ackroyd was jailed for 30 months and is expected to serve half of

that. A unit remains unidentified. Anyone committing a crime, whether

it is a physical crime or a crime on the internet, potentially using

Global Associates or infrastructure abroad, using proxies to hide their

identity, that will be investigated. They will be investigated and they

will be prosecuted. That is the message that needs to go out there.

We will work with global partners and Industry to bring these

individuals to justice. When you have these groups like Anonymous or

Lulzsec, yesterday broke the law, yes they should be punished, but I

am more worried about organised criminal gangs from Russia, from

the Ukraine, from new mania, from China, gangs that are stealing

money. -- Romania. Gangs that are making millions. I have spoken to

hackers who have been caught. Many feel they could have been useful in

securing systems. But for one reason or another, they went on the

wrong path would did not have the opportunities for made some

mistakes. They keep telling me the same thing over and over. If they

could change what happens, they would rather be on the other side.

So should we be trying harder to steer young people away from the

seemingly glamourous world of hacking and harnessing their

skills? The irony is that we need the people who have the skill sets

and the kind of personalities that enjoy hacking to come over and join

us on the forensic side. We need people with the skills, abilities

and the desire for a puzzle solving to be put on the other side of the

fence. Do you have a message for people to look at what you have

done and in some way copy that? hope it would not result in

copycats. If you have the passion to do something and have nothing

else to do, try and find something beyond the front door. If you get

sucked into the computer world, you get dependent on it. It is very

hard to say no to some things that you will later come to regret.

Davies was given a 24 months' sentence. He had been given police

restrictions that counted against this time. Some Lulzsec members in

the UK have been indicted in the US. But so far there has been no

request for extradition. Lulzsec may have thought of themselves as

latter-day pirates, whose online antics highlighted the inadequacies

of internet security professionals. Prosecutors saw them as a cowardly