UK Police Reveals Arrest of Hackers’ Spokesman
British police officials revealed on Wednesday the arrest of an 18-yea-old teenager that authorities tagged as the mouthpiece of a hacking group identified as responsible for breaching the security protocols of Sony Pictures and a host of other websites.
In a statement, Scotland Yard's Metropolitan Police's Central e-Crime Unit said that an individual who is believed to be 'Topiary' is now under its custody following the youth's arrest from his Shetland Islands residence in Scotland.
Topiary reportedly represents Lulz Security or LulzSec, which is allied with Anonymous and other online activists/hackers who preyed on entities and individuals that they believe stifle freedom of expression, especially within the online community.
Yet much of the acts committed by the group could be attributed to prank attacks that disrupted normal functions of companies, government agencies, which happened to catch their collective attention and wrath.
According to The Associated Press, Topiary fronted for both LulzSec and Anonymous in many occasions and was the man behind the hackers' Twitter account, which attracted more than 300,000 followers that avidly supported the group's almost two months of campaign that somewhat brought many sites down to their knees.
Topiary routinely used Skype in communicating with media outlets and issuing any statements that LulzSec would want to reveal, like when he debated with a known Christian fundamentalist on national TV, according to AP.
That same mode of communication was used by the purported LulzSec spokesman when the group decided to call it quits after wreaking havoc on many targets, with Topiary declaring during a Skype call that "we're not quitting because we're afraid of law enforcement ... the press are getting bored of us, and we're getting bored of us."
Scotland Yard's announcement came as US, British and European authorities ramped up their campaigns against the hacking community, revealing last week that 21 suspects were arrested in connection with the attack on PayPal, which hackers 'punished' for refusing to process donations for WikiLeaks.
Along with the breakthroughs that were made known this week, British police officials said that another teenage suspect from central England was being investigated by authorities though no arrests have been made.