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LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard

By | July 27, 2011, 9:36am PDT

Summary: ‘Topiary’, one of the spokespeople for hacktivist group LulzSec, has been arrested in Scotland, police in London confirm.

The spokesperson of LulzSec, the group behind a series of high profile hacks in the past few months, has been arrested by police.

In a statement by the Metropolitan Police in London, a 19-year-old known as ‘Topiary’ was arrested at an address in the Shetland Islands, north of Scotland.

According to the statement issued by Scotland Yard, a residential address in the Shetlands is being searched. Another teenager in Lincolnshire, in the east of England, is being questioned under police caution, though has not been arrested.

‘Topiary’, real name unknown, is currently being transported from the Shetlands to a police station in London, where is expected to be charged with offenses related to cybercrime, hacking and network intrusions.

Believed to have been behind the Twitter account @LulzSec, there has been no update to the stream in over six hours at time of publication.

Last month, LulzSec announced that it would disband after fifty days of high profile hacks. It was only a few days after ‘AntiSec’, an operation named in response to poor security by high profile targets, was announced.

LulzSec and 4chan inspired group Anonymous have since joined forces to carry on the AntiSec movement.

This comes on the day that both LulzSec and Anonymous call upon their followers to boycott PayPalin response to its refusal to release funds relating to the ongoing Wikileaks trial.

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Topics

Spokesperson, LulzSec, Zack Whittaker

Zack Whittaker, a criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, Canterbury, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

Disclosure

Zack Whittaker

I worked briefly with Microsoft UK in 2006 but no longer have any connection with the company. Regardless, I remain impartial and unbiased in my views.

I don't hold any stock or shares, investments or industrial secrets in any company, but have signed confidentiality agreements with a number of UK and U.S. organisations, whose names I am not at liberty to disclose.

I was involved with Kent Union, the University of Kent's student union, undertaking voluntary, non-salaried, elected positions between early 2009 and mid-2010.

No other company, body, government department, non-governmental organisation or third sector organisation employs me or pays me a salary in any capacity whatsoever.

As a freelance journalist, whenever expenses are given and taken by a company that is not CBS Interactive, these will be disclosed in each relevant post to ensure transparency.

I currently work with a UK law enforcement unit, but this is an entirely separate position which bears no connection to other work.

(Updated: 23rd October 2011)

Biography

Zack Whittaker

Zack Whittaker, criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, UK, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

After studying criminology at university, though still in his early-20's, he has already had a series unconventional work and voluntary positions. He has worked with researchers studying neurological illnesses like Tourette's syndrome (which he suffers from), has given lectures on the nature of disabilities in the public community, and occasionally ends up speaking on television and radio discussing the events of the day.

He first had academic work published at the age of 22, then still an undergraduate, and has been cited by a wide range of publications: from the Huffington Post, Business Insider, AllThingsDigital, The Atlantic Wire and CBS News.

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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
FAULKNE 13th Oct
Good day to confirm this comment I would appreciate T h e b e s t o f Z D N e t d e l i v e r e d your website very nice to everyone Yes, Oracle is the only one with shared-disk architecture, but that is there advantage. It means you can add or remove nodes and the database lives on. In a shared nothing architecture, if you lose a node, you lose the system. I'm sure Oracle appreciates EMC highlighting their advantage.I also desire to signal in your RSS feeds. Thank you as soon as once again and maintain up the great operate Awesome post! Thank you very much || thanks for nice content this is really benefit to me.
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For now, I do not see much of 'evil' and 'corruption' in the actions of ...
DeRSSS 27th Jul
these teens. They did not sell their hacks for money and they do not do it for malicious purposes. PayPal's "business ethics" is indeed in question, there is no legal way for them to block money that send to pay defence lawyers of Wikileaks. That PayPal's doing is pretty classless.
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
I12BPhil 27th Jul
@DeRSSS If covertly going in to a computer that doesn't belong to you without permission and looking at information that isn't meant for you doesn't count as 'evil' or 'corrupt', then you seriously need to re-examine your priorities.
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The 'evil' and 'corrupt' has to be in the intention/motive, and there is no
DeRSSS 28th Jul
@I12BPhil: ... such thing yet. And these teenagers hardly "looked" at any private sensitive information of people. And there are no reports that any concrete people whose accounts on PSN or elsewhere were exposed had any harm because of it, except for the inconvenience of the correspoding services being locked up for the fixing of their lousy "security" systems.

So the society actually gained the good from these actions, which are formally illegal.
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
skippe93 28th Jul
@I12BPhil Right. I wonder what DeRSSS would have thought if his email address and password would have been in the list of those released.
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What I would have thought? No harm besides temporary shutdown of the ...
DeRSSS 28th Jul
@skippe93: ... service to fix the lousy "security" system.
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
cwbuechler@... Updated - 28th Jul
@DeRSSS How is it not malicious to intentionally bring down a service provided by a corporation or reveal Law Enforcement Officers private information? It doesn't matter that they had poor security, to intentionally cause harm to an organization or person is Malicious.

Paypal has chosen to not process payments to an organization that very well could be classified as a enemy agent by the United States Government. It would be illegal for them to process funds for such an organization knowingly. The fact that Wikileaks has been involved in releasing information acquired as the result of espionage PayPal has little choice in the matter.
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the ends justifying the means, you mean.
shryko 28th Jul
@DeRSSS

I'm one who doesn't always believe in the simpler view of things, where a good outcome means that the process to achieve it was ok.
They knowingly broke many rules, and thus, they knowingly chose these consequences. Simple cause and effect.

That said, their petition and push for the simple boycott of paypal is one that I agree with, support and endorse. I've boycotted paypal as much as practically able, for years now.
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
tim.w.jung@... 31st Jul
@shryko
So the ends justify the means? Wow that is pretty messed up. There have been a lot of really evil things done in history for the good of the public and people. How about we let corporations do whatever they want or require to do to make money for their shareholders since maximizing shareholder's profit is a good end result.
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They're not as good as you think
chronostorm Updated - 28th Jul
@DeRSSS

actually, they tried to blackmail a company, unless the owner paid up. Also, they released thousands of emails to the public.

They don't like a decision made by Paypal, so they attack the company. I would say that's pretty malicious.
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
jamisonmaxwell Updated - 28th Jul
@chronostorm
Unveillance?
Yes, a company who was trying to pay them to go after their competitors......
They got exactly what they deserve.
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
Str0b0 28th Jul
@DeRSSS So if I break into your house later and steal your important documents and info it's cool right? I'm not doing it for malicious purposes I'm just showcasing how weak your home security is. A crime is a crime regardless of the intent behind it.
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
amckern 28th Jul
@Str0b0 @Str0b0
- lol - they did not steal anbything, they just made copys.
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
jamisonmaxwell 28th Jul
While I do not participate in the cracking that these groups do, I simply do not posses the skills, I'm a sys admin. I do openly support the reasons why they are carrying out these attacks. @I12BPhil I would ask the same thing of folks burining their draft cards during American Vietnam, Rosa Parks refusing to move from her seat, all of Mohatmas Gandhi's arrests or any other of the countless people throughout history who have refused to obey "laws" that were unjust. One has to remember that there is a darn good reason these people are doing this, and not just to get money to Wikileaks. For instance, take a look at the new IP laws that are before U.S Congress. If U.S passes some hogwash of this nature, how long do you think before everyone else does. Remember, no country owns the Internet, I would akin it to a country taxing air.
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"boycott PayPalin" :v
SenorAlejandro 28th Jul
I apologize for the lighthearted comment amid the more serious ones, but that missing space made me chuckle. ^^
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
wcb42ad 28th Jul
@SenorAlejandro

Yeah, I was just about to comment on the spellcheck fail to Sarah Palin's PayPal myself. It was a good Thursday laugh though.
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
vahnx 29th Jul
@SenorAlejandro Lol I thought it was intentional XD
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The 'evil' and 'corrupt' has to be in the intention/motive ...
impcad 28th Jul
@DeRSSS
I guess it would be ok with you if I picked the lock on your door so I could come in and take a look around. After all, if I don't steal anything, there is no bad intent, right?
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
amckern 28th Jul
@impcad What country do you live in - it might be 'yes'?
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Only the intent matters?
kidtree 28th Jul
I've been telling people for years that wooden structures are too vulnerable to fire for use as human habitation. So when I walk around the neighborhood with a wheelbarrow full of gas cans and demonstrate my point in the wee hours of the morning, I don't see why people get all upset. My intent is only to encourage safer building practices, and if a few families perish in the night, that just helps illuminate my point. It's not like I'm a criminal; I'm just encouraging society to build safer homes.

Abstract ideals have nothing to do with criminality. If you deliberately cause harm, you're liable to arrest and prosecution.
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
jamisonmaxwell 28th Jul
@kidtree
Yes I agree, provided that the builders of everyone's home in that neighborhood told them that they built their houses out of fire retardent material.
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
jamisonmaxwell 28th Jul
@kidtree
Yes, I agree. Provided that the bulders of the homes told the buyers they built them out of fire retardent material. That's a terrible analogy. A good analogy would be to either tell people, or let them assume, that their personal data is safe with a service provider and then someone coming in and stealing all of thier data. One of these days companies will pay enough to protect their networks as they do to lock thier doors.
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
jamisonmaxwell 28th Jul
@kidtree
No, it would be someone breaking into your business and stealing the personal data of your users you promised to keep safe where you have it haphazardly scrawled across a peice of paper laying out on your desk. The difference is mindset. I have the assumption I'm talking to mainly IT people here. If your network gets broken into it it's your fault for not protecting it, that's fact, just ask Sarbanes-Oxley the next time they come to ream you.
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
Fl21dg3 Updated - 29th Jul
All the analogies I've read so far are terrible. There is no way to simplify what Anonymous is doing. Civil Disobedience is supposed to a contrast to what everyone thinks is the norm. As for comparing their actions to breaking into someone's home, it's more complicated than that. What if the home had child pornography? Perhaps evidence that the homeowner was affiliated with a local terrorist cell? Granted, LulzSec only stole and published random documents and login credentials but the actions themselves are intended to be scare tactics, proving to the government and it's contractors that the security they have in place to mask their curruption is inadequate. The arrests have nothing to do with people breaking the law. They're about the government trying to prevent embarrasing leaks. The laws were put in place not to uphold justice but to legitimize tracking down and silencing anyone who wants to expose the truth.
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I'd say it goes deeper than that
SiO2 29th Jul
@Fl21dg3
Its not just government that is worried about corruption being exposed, or even that corruption is there. Business, banking, everything depends on security, and these little upstarts are highlighting that the model we've built this shaky edifice we call modern society on, was broken to begin with. A critical mass of education and communication have combined to create a mindset that knows this, and its growing - unless the worlds governments act quickly, they are going to have a problem - or at least those that seek to disinform and coerce their peoples will.
I'm not with siding with LulzSec, but the age of the autocratic government is coming to a timely end, and we need a more transparent and streamlined replacement. The government wont however give it to us willingly...
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Yea, Shoot the messenger
rarsa Updated - 31st Jul
When is Scotland yard going to get the people responsible for the bad security?

It seems to me that LulzSec did something illegal. But the companies I trusted with my data and lost it did something even worst. They should be charged. e.g. Sony.
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
picpocbalanel@... 1st Aug
It's funny. Nay! Shocking and tragic! Criminals with many victims, mobsters and other thieves are at large and children are jailed .
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
picpocbalanel@... Updated - 1st Aug
It's funny. Nay! Shocking and tragic! Criminals with many victims, mobsters and other thieves are at large and children are jailed by outraged corporations.
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
picpocbalanel@... 1st Aug
Who are these children? They are not children! Why? They are matured earlier by horrors that they saw. Economic crises, terrorist attacks, political corruption...! Donkeys politicians who lead us destroy our children.Less money to education, health, culture.This is the current policy.More money in risky investments, saving banks (banks that triggered the crisis). Scammers who led these banks are free. But the children ... revoltedl child are jailed.
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
picpocbalanel@... 1st Aug
In the 70s' were some who said (a legendary rock band):
God save the (...)
The fascist regime
They made you a moron
Potential H-bomb
...
When there's no future
How can there be sin
We're the flowers in the dustbin
We're the poison in your human machine
We're the future, your future
...
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why the west?
trefire 3rd Aug
Why is it that these groups try to do damage to the institutions of the countries in which they reside or other western nations? Sure, it's thrilling to figure out how to infiltrate a multinational company, but it would take real talent to break into chinese, or Russian industries and government. Ultimately, do they think they will enjoy life better (free from the repression they suffer while living with their mommies in the Shetland Islands) if collectively and with the help of Chinese and Russian supported hackers they hasten the downfall of the west? They will still be denied that miniature pony all the other kids have.
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
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RE: LulzSec 'spokesperson' arrested by Scotland Yard
FAULKNE 13th Oct
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