But the infamous hacker didn't do all this out of the goodness of his heart. Faced with sentencing in federal court for breaking into countless computer systems worldwide, Hector Xavier Monsegur revealed a treasure trove of information that helped authorities disrupt at least 300 cyberattacks on targets including the U.S. military, Congress, the federal courts, NASA, and private companies.
According to a newly filed government court document, he also helped authorities destroy a cell of the group Anonymous, which has become well known for distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on government, religious, and corporate websites. DDoSs basically make organizations' network resources unavailable to intended users. Subsequently, authorities arrested eight members of Anonymous in Europe and the U.S., including Jeremy Hammond who was on the FBI's list of top cybercriminals.
Because of Monsegur's extensive cooperation, federal prosecutors in Manhattan are asking Judge Lotetta A. Preska for leniency for the hacker.
Reported in the Plain Dealer, May 25, 2014
