Hacker taunts arrested comrade after someone drops dime to FBI

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/06/hacker-taunts-arrested-comrade-after-someone-drops-dime-to-fbi/

By Sean Gallagher
Ars Technica
June 18 2014

Continuing variations on a theme, the FBI has arrested yet another alleged 
"hacktivist" based on information provided by a confidential informant. 
This time, FBI agents from the bureau’s Chicago field office nabbed 
Timothy Justin French, who the Justice Department claims was a member of a 
group called NullCrew. Another alleged NullCrew member, a juvenile 
offender, was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police based on 
information passed by the FBI.

Based on a statement from a member of NullCrew who remains at large, the 
arrests weren’t a big surprise. Calling French and the other hacker 
“skids” (script kiddies), the NullCrew member mocked their poor 
operational security and failure to cover their own digital tracks. And in 
a reference to the LulzSec case, the poster said that French missed “what 
should’ve been the most fucking obvious thing ever: don't let just any 
asshole in the crew, and don't give them the keys to the fucking kingdom. 
The FBI got someone to get you fuckers, and you deserved it. I've already 
taken care of that little problem—if it walks like Sabu and talks like 
Sabu...”

French, who the FBI claims is known by the usernames “Orbit,” “crysis,” 
and a number of other IRC, Skype, and Twitter handles, was arrested on 
June 11 at his home in Morristown, Tennessee. He is accused, along with 
other members of NullCrew, of launching “computer attacks that resulted in 
the release of computer data and information, including thousands of 
username and password combinations,” according to a statement issued by 
the Justice Department.

French and NullCrew’s alleged activities were exposed by a confidential 
informant who was invited into the group’s conversations on CryptoCat and 
Skype and in Twitter direct messages. “Nullcrew members discussed past, 
present, and future computer hacks, shared current computer 
vulnerabilities and planned targets, and discussed releases of their 
victims’ information,” the Justice Department said in its release. And 
apparently the informant volunteered the information to the FBI. “The 
witness has assisted with the investigation primarily in an effort to help 
the FBI, the affidavit stated.

[...]

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