Three key hackers were arrested today, and two more charged with conspiracy, in actions by law enforcement agents in the United States and Great Britain. The five hackers, who have ties to Anonymous, LulzSec, Internet Feds, and AntiSec, were allegedly betrayed by one of their own. In a remarkable display of internet finkdom, former LulzSec ringleader Hector Xavier Monsegur (you probably know him better as “Sabu”) has been reportedly working with the feds for months, according to a Fox News Exclusive.

“They caught him and he was secretly arrested and now works for the FBI,” reports Fox News, citing a source close to Sabu.

Foxnews.com reports Monsegur’s cooperation “was confirmed by numerous senior-level officials. … As a result, the remaining top-ranking members of LulzSec were arrested or hit with additional charges Tuesday morning.”

An FBI release disclosed the identities of the captured hackers. Listed among the defendants are Ryan Ackroyd (alias “kayla”), 23, of Doncaster, UK; Jake Davis (alias “topiary”), 18, of Lerwick, Shetland Islands, UK; Darren Martyn (alias “pwnsauce”), 25, of Galway Ireland; Donncha O’Cearrbhail (alias “palladium”), 19, of Birr, Ireland; and Jeremy Hammond (alias “Anarchaos”), 27, of Chicago. They face a combined total of eight counts of computer hacking conspiracy, one count of computer hacking, one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, and one count of intentionally disclosing an unlawfully intercepted wire communication. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 5-10 years in prison.

The four young lads from the UK and Ireland are suspected members of LulzSec, while Hammond is the suspected mastermind behind the December 2011 Stratfor Hack, which resulted in the release on WikiLeaks of over five million of the security consulting company’s internal emails.

Monsegur, a 28-year-old unemployed man from New York, pled guilty in August to twelve counts of Computer Hacking, Conspiracy, and Aggravated Identity Theft, and currently faces a maximum sentence of 124 years and six months in prison. His cooperation with authorities is believed to have been prompted by his concern for his kids. It’s a bit ironic, his involvement with the government, especially in light of this tweet from yesterday:

This marks a fair bit of egg on Anonymous’s [lack of a?] face in the past few days. First a Trojan-infected DDoS tool, and now some high-level backstabbing? Let’s have a look at Twitter’s response to the embarrassment.

PhotoCred: Foxnews.com.
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