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Anonymous Posts Response Letter To Snitch Sabu (On A Hacked Security Firm's Website)

This article is more than 10 years old.

The hacker group Anonymous is dealing with the arrest and betrayal of one of its most vocal members the only way it knows how: By hacking a security firm and covering its website with a rant against feds and snitches.

After the revelation earlier Tuesday that Sabu, the 28-year old hacker and leader of the Anonymous splinter group LulzSec, had been working as an FBI informant since as early as June of last year, members of Anonymous have hacked and defaced the website of antivirus firm Panda Security. In a message posted on the hijacked site, the anons accused the Spanish firm Panda of working with law enforcement to help arrest 25 members of the group in Spain and South America last month. The hackers also posted what appear to be dozens of passwords used by the company's staff.

In a short note at the top of the site, the hacker collective took a moment to address Sabu in what reads like a bitter goodbye letter. "Yeah yeah, we know, Sabu snitched on us. As usually happens FBI menaced him to take his sons away. We understand, but we were your family too. (Remember what you liked to say?)," the note reads, likely referencing Sabu's habit of rallying his radical hacktivist "brothers" on Twitter. "It's sad and we can't imagine how it feels having to look at the mirror each morning and see there the guy who shopped their friends to police."

Hector Xavier Monsegur, a.k.a. Sabu, was outed Tuesday as a Puerto-Rican American resident of New York who pleaded guilty in August to an indictment on charges of computer crimes against targets ranging from Visa and Mastercard to the security firm HBGary and Sony that carried a maximum sentence of up to 124 years and six months in prison. According to a report by Fox News, the hacker chose to become a government informant rather than be separated from his two young sons. Over the next months, he continued to take an active part in Anonymous' actions, including the hacking of the private intelligence firm Stratfor and the release of its emails. He also rallied fellow hackers and supporters on his Twitter feed, which grew to 45,000 followers, all while working with law enforcement to infiltrate the hacker collective.

The note on Panda's hacked site goes on to offer support for a group of recently captured members of LulzSec, including the three hackers arrested Tuesday morning, and to offer harsh words for Panda Security researcher Luis Corrons, who had celebrated the news of the Anons' arrest and Sabu's betrayal earlier in the day. "Really good news. I have just read that LulzSec members have been arrested and that their main head Sabu has been working as an informant for the FBI," Corrons had written in his blog. Corrons went on to predict that with LulzSec captured, Anonymous would only be capable of simple denial of service attacks that take down websites rather than the data breaches and defacements that LulzSec perpetrated.

"LOL HE ASKED FOR THE LULZ!!!! HERE IT IS THE LULZ," the hackers responded. "Pandasecurity.com, better known for its shitty ANTIVIRUS WE HAVE BACKDOORED, has [been] earning money working with law enforcement to lurk and snitch on anonymous activists...yep we know about you. How does it feel to be the spied one?"