Teenager From Essex Commuter Town Arrested For Hacking CIA, NHS and Sony
We know there’s not a lot to do in Essex but – nineteen year old Ryan Clarey surpassed himself in making his own fun – he’s just been taken in for questioning by the police for hacks on Sony, the CIA and the NHS. That hack on Sony being the biggest theft of personal data so far in internet history.
The British police in conjunction with the FBI have raided his house in the small commuter-town of Wickford Essex for evidence about hacking activities. Ryan himself is now under arrest in London and has not yet been charged. The spate of recent hacktivist attacks on governments and corporations have been blamed on hacker groups Anonymous and LulzSec (twitter here). Targets have apparently included the Spanish police, the IMF and potentially the UK’s 2011 census data, though the attack on Sony in which 100 million credit card details were stolen was the best-known and the most damaging.
Anonymous and LulzSec are loose and anonymous groups of people all over the world, so it’s hard to tell what role if any the Essex teen might have played in these high -profile attacks.
He certainly couldn’t have done it himself. But LulzSec deny that the teen is one of their leaders. They said in a tweet:
“Seems the glorious leader of LulzSec got arrested, it’s all over now… wait… we’re all still here! Which poor bastard did they take down?”
However he could have been inspired by the LulzSec hacking philosophy: on June 19th LulzSec launched a campaign called #AntiSec or Operation Anti-Security aimed at taking out the websites/databases of banks and governments:
“Top priority is to steal and leak any classified government information, including email spools and documentation. Prime targets are banks and other high-ranking establishments. If they try to censor our progress, we will obliterate the censor with cannonfire anointed with lizard blood”
Already, a hack of the UK Census has been laid at their feet, though, once again, they deny this.
The story continues.. We’re glued to our screens.
Posted: 21st, June 2011 | In: Technology Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
