Associate of Hacking Group LulzSec Indicted for Conspiracy to Conduct Cyber Attacks

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LOS ANGELES—A federal grand jury in LosAngeles returned an indictment Tuesday charging an associate of the hackinggroup LulzSec, an offshoot of the larger group Anonymous, with multiplecomputer attacks targeting a news organization and private companies, announcedAndré Birotte, Jr., the United States Attorney in Los Angeles; and StevenMartinez, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.
Ryan Cleary, 20, a resident and citizenof the United Kingdom, is currently incarcerated while facing foreignprosecution in England related to his hacking activities. The indictment, filedon June 12, 2012, in United States District Court in Los Angeles, chargesCleary with one count of conspiracy and two counts of the unauthorizedimpairment of protected computers.
Count one of the indictment alleges thatfrom approximately April 2011 through June 2011, Cleary conspired with LulzSecmembers to intentionally cause damage to the computer systems of a newsorganization and several businesses, including by hacking into systems to stealdata and by launching distributed denial of service attacks, or DDoS attacks,using Cleary’s “botnet.” A botnet is a collection of compromised computers,known as “bots,” that are infected with malicious software and then listen for,respond to, and execute commands issued remotely by the owner of the botnet. Abotnet can be used to conduct DDoS attacks by directing the numerous bots inthe botnet to flood a victim’s computer system with so many commands that thesystem is rendered unable to handle legitimate requests, thus denying legitimateusers the services of the computer resource.
The indictment alleges that Clearycontrolled a large botnet of tens of thousands, and potentially hundreds ofthousands of bots, and that he used his botnet to conduct DDoS attacks againstvarious entities. The indictment further alleges that Cleary would rent out hisbotnet for certain time periods in exchange for money from individualsinterested in conducting DDoS attacks targeting specific victims.
The conspiracy count alleges that Clearyassisted LulzSec in its hacking activities by identifying and exploitingsecurity vulnerabilities on victim computers, conducting DDoS attacks, andproviding access to servers and other computer resources for LulzSec members touse, including to communicate amongst each other and to store and publishconfidential information stolen from victim computers. When an associate ofCleary’s was questioned by law enforcement regarding LulzSec’s activities,Cleary allegedly instructed the associate to falsely accuse an innocent party.
LulzSec is known for its affiliationwith the international group of hackers known as Anonymous. Anonymous,according to the indictment, is a collective of computer hackers and otherindividuals located throughout the world who conduct cyber attacks againstindividuals and entities they perceive to be hostile to its interests.
LulzSec has been linked to the hacking,or attempted hacking, of numerous targets, including the computer systems ofgovernment and business entities.
If convicted of the charges in theUnited States, Cleary faces a statutory maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
This investigation was conducted by theElectronic Crimes Task Force (ECTF) in Los Angeles. The ECTF is comprised ofagents and officers from the FBI, United States Secret Service, Los AngelesPolice Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, United StatesAttorney’s Office, Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, and theCalifornia Highway Patrol.
This case is being prosecuted by theUnited States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.
An indictment merely containsallegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumedinnocent unless and until proven guilty at trial.