Attending court today accused of hacking Sony, 20th Century Fox, the NHS and UK police agency SOCA (amongst others), two of four members of the online collective known as Lulzsec have pleaded guilty to some charges against them, as UK and US authorities attempt to clamp down on Anonymous and its members.
Ryan Cleary, Jake Davis, Ryan Ackroyd and another 17 year old boy attended Southwark Crown Court to hear their charges and submit their pleas, with only Cleary and Davis admitting their involvement in hacking attempts against some of the world’s biggest entertainment companies and various government agencies between February and September 2011.
However, Cleary and Davis denied they had posted ‘unlawfully obtained confidential computer data’ to various public websites, including The Pirate Bay and Pastebin.com.
Ackroyd and an unnamed A-level student from South London both denied they were involved in any of the DDoS attacks and computer breaches.
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
Ryan Cleary, a 19-year-old student from Wickford, Essex was arrested in June 2011 as part of a “pre-planned intelligence-led operation” against LulzSec and pleaded guilty to attacks on the CIA and the Pentagon. His arrest was followed a month later of its supposed spokesperson Cleary a.k.a ‘Topiary’ a month later.
All four members have been in court over the past few months but have only today been able to submit a plea.
The Telegraph reports that the hackers will be tried on the remaining charges in April next year, with it taking 3,000 man hours to sift through the material which has been served against Ackroyd alone.
For a detailed rundown of the charges and the pleas of each of the four Lulzsec members, we suggest you check out The Telegraph’s comprehensive listing.
[Image Credit: Goblinbox]
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.