A New York man who led a secretive computer hacking syndicate from his Lower East Side apartment was sentenced Monday to time served because he helped the feds snare other cyber crooks after his 2011 arrest.
Hector Xavier Monsegur, the legendary hacker known as “Sabu,” walked free after Manhattan Federal Judge Loretta Preska said the seven months of jail he served in 2012 was a sufficient penalty.
Monsegur, 30, whose LulzSec group was affiliated with the Anonymous collective, became a target for hacker hate once the feds disclosed his snitch role in the 2012 busts of Jeremy Hammond and other targets.
“That personal characteristic of turning on a dime and doing good and not evil is the most important part of this sentencing,” Preska said, noting Monsegur and his family were threatened.
Defense lawyers and prosecutors alike argued for a sentence of time served, saying Monsegur worked “around the clock” with federal agents to bring down Hammond and seven others.
In the process, he thwarted hundreds of cyber-attacks, prevented the government and private companies from losing “untold millions of dollars” and identified computer vulnerabilities that might have allowed hackers to take control of the water supply system of a major U.S. city.
Hammond was sentenced to 10 years in prison in November.
“Mr. Monsegur’s cooperation was truly extraordinary,” Preska said. “I salute you for that.”
Monsegur pleaded guilty to breaking into numerous computer systems around the world, including systems related to the U.S. military, Congress, the federal courts and NASA.
“The last three years I’ve gone through a lot of changes, learned a lot of lessons,” he said before his sentence came down. “I assure you I will not be in this courtroom again … I’m ready to move on.”
Monsegur, wearing a black shirt and khakis, nodded to Preska and hugged his lawyers in relief after the judge decided his fate.
Free on bail since December 2012, the hacking genius had faced a maximum sentence of more than 20 years in prison.
Monsegur grew up in the Jacob Riis Houses in lower Manhattan but was relocated by the feds for his own protection after he became a high-profile informant.
“You obviously have great skill,” Preska said Monday, saluting Monsegur for a computer basics course he taught to fellow detainees while behind bars.
“To deploy that skill for good would be a very good thing.”
dbeekman@nydailynews.com
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1mBoXg8
0 comments:
Post a Comment