US News

‘Anonymous’ big gets 10 years for hacking FBI

He won’t be able to hack himself out of this mess.

A Manhattan federal judge on Friday threw the book at an elite member of the computer-hacking group known as “Anonymous,” sentencing him to 10 years in the slammer and another three years of supervised release for breaking into private intelligence, FBI and other public-safety websites and then releasing the information through WikiLeaks and other Internet sites.

The sentence issued by Chief Judge Loretta Preska was the maximum allowed under the agreement computer whiz Jeremy Hammond cut with the government in May when copping his plea to stealing a treasure trove of data that included credit-card information from the private intelligence firm Stratfor’s website.

Prosecutors say the Stratfor hack resulted in the theft of 60,000 credit card numbers and records for 860,000 clients, and that he and others used them to rack up more than $700,000 in unauthorized purchases.

Hammond also publicly disclosed home addresses and other personal information – such as the identity of lovers – for hundreds of current and retired law-enforcement officers nationwide.

“Yes I broke the law, but I believe sometimes laws must be broken in order to make room for change,” Hammond said.

He later claimed his hacking days are done but added, “I still believe in ‘hacktivism’ as a form of civil disobedience.”

Hammond’s illegal intrusions also included compromising security for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association and the Jefferson County, Ala., Sheriff’s Office.

In many cases, the stolen data included confidential law-enforcement documents – including private emails – that were disseminated on the web.

The feds also found files on Hammond’s laptop evidence of other successful cyber-attacks, including names, home addresses and credit card information for at least a hundred customers of the NYPD’s Equipment Section clothing store and more than a hundred retired cops through a website for the Austin, Texas police department’s retirement system.

Preska, while issuing her sentence, ripped the 28-year-old Chicago native for being “unrepentant, having a lack of respect for the law” and failing to learn from a long list of previous criminal convictions that included spending 20 months in prison for hacking into a website that tracked anti-war protesters.

“Mr. Hammond sees himself as a modern day Robin Hood … He says he had the best of intentions and sought to disclose information the public has a right to know but … ignores the widespread harm he’s caused to countless individuals and organizations,” Preska said.

The chief judge was not amused as parts of the two-hour hearing felt like a circus. In one case, a Hammond loyalist lied his way up to a podium by pretending to be a victim before claiming he’s “a victim of FBI oppression.” He was then grabbed and thrown out the courtroom by US marshalls.

Minutes later, a self-proclaimed cyber criminal claiming to be a Hammond victim spent 10 minutes telling the judge how “Anonymous” members are routinely terrorizing him and his parents with various fast-food-ordering pranks like “pizza bombing” and “Chinese food bombing, as well as “SWATTING,” a term used for making bogus 9-1-1 calls so SWAT or other emergency crews respond to a targeted location.

“Your Honor, do you know what SWATTING is? … Have you ever been pizza bombed,” said Vincent Vocce, causing dozens of Hammond supporters to break out in laughter before the judge ordered them to shut up.
Some even laughed as he discussed a desire to kill himself.

Preska was also peeved when Hammond, while asking her for leniency, blabbed some names of countries that were victims of his cyber-attacks — information that has yet to be made public.

Armed 265 letters of support, Hammond’s lawyers had sought a sentence of 20-months time served. The lawyers even tried to paint his actions as being similar to those of “our founding fathers” and Martin Luther King, saying they also fought for government “change.”

“Jeremy Hammond … decided to use his skills to break the law,” lawyer Sarah Kunstler said. “He did so out of concern that technologies were enabling governments and corporations to gather information on individuals and organizations without oversight and scrutiny.”

Hammond was busted last year after the feds flipped Hector Xavier Monsegur, a leader of Anonymous offshoot LulzSec.

Monsegur, of the Lower East Side, is a famed hacker known as “Sabu” who helped authorities infiltrate Anonymous and nab Hammond and four others.

Under his plea agreement with prosecutors, Hammond admitted that his hacking caused losses of up to $2.5 million. Preska said she will consider whether to order Hammond to pay restitution.

After being sentenced, Hammond smiled and waved to dozens of supporters.

“Long live Anonymous!” he shouted, as officers escorted him out of the courtroom.