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July 27, 2011

Scotland Yard Believes it Arrested Teen-age Spokesman for LulzSec Hacking Group

By Ed Silverstein, TMCnet Contributor

London’s Scotland Yard believes it has arrested a teenager who was acting as a spokesman for the Lulz Security hacking group.

Officers from the Metropolitan Police Service’s Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) arrested the 19-year-old man in an intelligence-led operation, according to a Scotland Yard press statement.



“The man arrested is believed to be linked to an ongoing international investigation in to the criminal activity of the so-called ‘hacktivist’ groups Anonymous and LulzSec, and uses the online nickname ‘Topiary,’” Scotland Yard said.

The police added that the suspect was arrested at a residence in the Shetland Islands and was being transported Wednesday to a police station in central London. Police say they are searching the residence where he was arrested. In addition, the police are also searching a residence in Lincolnshire.

Police add a 17-year-old boy is being interviewed by police in connection with the investigation. He was not arrested, police said on Wednesday. The hackers allegedly made a number of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against international businesses, intelligence agencies and other entities, police said.

Between the hacking groups, some of the targets have been the Church of Scientology, the music industry (such as Sony), and financial companies such as Visa and MasterCard (News - Alert), The Associated Press said. Other targets are suspected to be media outlets such as Fox News, The Sun, and the U.S. Public Broadcasting Service.

LulzSec also took down a site belonging to the Central Intelligence Agency, according to TechZone 360. LulzSec is believed to be a spin off from Anonymous, The AP said.

Last week, the FBI, as well as British and Dutch authorities arrested 21 suspects who were allegedly connected to the hacking group's attacks on PayPal (News - Alert) Inc., The AP reported.

In addition, Ryan Cleary, 19, was charged with attacks on the United Kingdom’s Serious Organized Crime Agency website and U.K.-based music sites, The AP added.

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Ed Silverstein is a TMCnet contributor. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell
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