Based on a prosecutor's memo to the US District Judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan, the US government is petitioning for the reduction of a hacker who have admitted his link with the fabled online group Anonymous. Hector Xavier Monsegur who, under the alias "Sabu," is set to be sentenced on May 27 by Preska for his work.
Incidentally, the government is asking Preska to go easy on Monsegur considering the extent of the cooperation he had done for the country, prosecutors have said. Assistant US Attorney James Pastore said that Monsegur, who is also a former member of the Internet Feds and LulzSec hacker groups aside from Anonymous, started cooperating with US investigators following his arrest in June 2011. Monsegur subsequently worked industriously on informing his colleagues and even helped gather evidence regarding cyber-attacks on a foreign government.
Monsegur's evidence-gathering with federal investigators while as a secret informant to the US had supposedly led to the prosecution of at least five hackers who were responsible for the attack on the intelligence firm Strategic Forecasting Inc, or Stratfor, and for interfering with eight other computer systems. One of the hackers, Jeremy Hammond, was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in jail for the cyber-attack. Pastore further argued the importance of an insider like Monsegur, who once belonged to a crew of hackers who were behind a series of cyber-attacks that authorities had later identified.
"Had Monsegur delayed his decision to cooperate, his efforts would have been far less fruitful. In fact, LulzSec had developed an action plan to destroy evidence and disband if the group determined that any of its members had been arrested," Pastore said.
Pastore also said in the memo that Monsegur's cooperation came at a price for the hacker. MOnsegur and his family had to be relocated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation following the revelation of his identity to the public. Moreover, the prosecutor said that Monsegur was menaced and threatened by some who thought he had helped in the probe and the prosecution of the billion-dollar online market that encouraged the trade of illicit items and services, Silk Road.
Pastore said US probation officials are recommended a probation term for Monsegur despite federal sentencing guidelines call for a prison term of up to 26 years for his crimes.
