Jeremy Hammond, the hacker accused of breaking into global foreign-intelligence company Stratfor's systems and stealing information later posted to Wikileaks, has pleaded guilty to the charges and now faces 10 years in jail.
Caught in 2012 by hacker Hector Xavier "Sabu" Monsegur, who was helping police infiltrate hacktivisit 'group' Anonymous, Hammond pleaded guility to a single count of conspiracy in a Manhattan federal court yesterday. He will be sentenced on 6 September.
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"As part of each of these hacks, I took and decimated confidential information stored on computer systems websites used by each of the entities," Hammond, who has described himself as "an anarchist communist", admitted to the judge.
Hammond has also accused of defacing several websites and putting some hacking victims temporarily out of business.
A website set up to support Hammond's cause has stated that "he did nothing for personal gain and everything in hopes of making the world a better place", and calls the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, under which Hammond has been charged, an "outdated law, written before the internet was even created, [giving] absurdly broad powers to corporations and prosecutors... [to] pursue extreme and disproportionate sentences."
Speaking to Computing in December 2012, attorney Jay Leiderman - who has represented other Anonymous-affiliated hacktivists - accused the FBI of being "part and parcel" of Hammond's hack, and making no effort to stop him carrying it out. Leiderman also asserted that "if you left your front door open people wouldn't really call it a break-in".
Hammond claimed that a plead of not guilty would have resulted in him getting a sentence of at least 30 years if the jury's decision went against him.
