LulzSec's Topiary Named, Set Free On Bail
LulzSec's Topiary Named, Set Free On Bail
Posted 08/01/2011 at 10:07am
| by Brad Chacos
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Remember when we told you that British police had rounded up the man they believed was Topiary, the smart-mouthed wise cracker who served as the spokesman for the infamous LulzSec hacking group? Since then, rumors saying that they got the wrong guy have been floating around the Internet. Was the man in custody a dupe framed by the actual Topiary? British police don't think so, and the stuff they found on the Jake Davis' laptop seems pretty damning. But he's still out on bail.
Jake Davis may look like a tyke – and judging from those shades, he may think he's Neo – but at 18 years old, he's a grown man as far as the courts are concerned. He's facing a full-grown set of charges, too, according to Sophos:
- Unauthorised access to a computer system, contrary to Section 3 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990
- Encouraging / assisting offences, contrary to S46 of the Serious Crime Act 2007
- Conspiracy with others to carry out a Distributed Denial of Service Attack on the website of the Serious and Organised Crime Agency contrary to S1 Criminal Law Act 1977
- Conspiracy to commit offences of section 3 Computer Misuse Act 1990, contrary to S1 Criminal Law Act 1977
- Conspiracy between the defendant and others to commit offences of section 3 Computer Misuse Act 1990 contrary to S1 Criminal Law Act 1977
Graham Cluley at Sophos also says that prosecutors told the judge that Davis had the username and password combinations for over 750,000 people on his computer when he was arrested. His computer supposedly also contained the article that was posted to the hacked Sun website last month. The false article claimed that Rupert Murdoch had offed himself and caused quite a stir online.
Despite the evidence and LulzSec's reputation, the judge overseeing the case granted Davis bail, citing his youth, clean record and the media circus around his arrest. Davis must stay at his parent's home every night until a court date on August 30th, and he isn't allowed to access the Internet in any way – including smartphones.
Davis' attorney says he may have been a spokesman for the groups, SlashGear reports, but that's it. Davis' defense seems to be that he served simply as a mouthpiece for LulzSec and Anonymous and didn't actually participate in any of the hacking activities associated with the two organizations.
Image credit: SlashGear
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nowuntiltomorrow
August 03, 2011 at 12:43am
"Davis had the username and password combinations for over 750,000 people on his computer when he was arrested." Ok so Topiary gains access to someones computer, plants all of this data. Maybe even a program that performs such deeds as getting more using that pc as a proxy. People come on unless he is video taped actually doing the act how can they prove that he did all of that. Worst case what if he didn't know anything about it and he goes to jail. His life ruined because his computer wasn't properly protected and he was used to take the fall.
TerribleToaster
August 03, 2011 at 6:58am
A video tape could have been digitally altered so well that they couldn't tell the difference. There is always a way that evidence could be falsified.
The evidence against him, however, is solid and incredibly unlikely to be the work of some crazed cover-up scheme. Seriously, you are implying that he was so bad with computers that, not only did he not know he was hacked, but he didn't see the 750,000 username/password combos, various hacking tools, and other such incrimanating things spread throughout his computer or that if he did he didn't know enough to ask someone else about it. A simple IQ test could rule that out. Not to mention that, seeing as he is a hacker, there should be plenty of evidence showing how well he can use a computer (i.e. his parents, friends, teachers, or anyone who knew him).
bautrey
August 01, 2011 at 3:55pm
If i had that much high risk data on my computer, I'd want to encrypt that!
axiomatic
August 01, 2011 at 2:53pm
Wow he looks "soft."
Flee little man, flee! I reccomend you flee via train. They aren't checking the trains much still. Take the chunnel to France.
Kodess
August 01, 2011 at 1:51pm
Great.. we already knew they were kids, as they didnt only show how leaky info-sec is.... they made sure to give the USERS of the leaky systems a rape.. what if my password was leaked... which I use everywhere? (assumption ;))
Edwincnelson
August 01, 2011 at 12:46pm
There's no way he turns state witness against his friends as part of a plea deal either. He's to attached to his ideals to ever do such a thing...
KenLV
August 01, 2011 at 11:12pm
@those below THIS…
Ewwww…yech!!!…what the hell is this all over the place? Oh yeah, it’s the DRIPPING SARCASM from Edwincnelson’s post.
Ghok
August 01, 2011 at 7:55pm
Why do you think that? What ideals exactly?
All we know is how he behaved on the INTERNET.
JohnnyCNote
August 01, 2011 at 5:17pm
I wouldn't count on it. If he's facing any time inside, he'd have to get either protective custody or he's gonna for sure be the bitch of the joint. I wonder how many cigarettes it would take for someone to get the "first dip" . . .
KenLV
August 01, 2011 at 11:25am
“Davis' attorney says he may have been a spokesman for the groups, SlashGear reports, but that's it. Davis' defense seems to be that he served simply as a mouthpiece for LulzSec and Anonymous and didn't actually participate in any of the hacking activities associated with the two organizations.”
…and the 750,000 stolen user names and passwords? Hmmmm... sure, I’ll buy that defense. LAWL
Speaking of “Mouthpieces”…Hey Jake, here’s a phrase you should familiarize yourself with: “You got a real purtty mouth boy.” Think you were popular before? Oh, I think you will be REAL popular with your new “roommate”.
macumber
August 01, 2011 at 11:12am
I don't know much about British courts. My impression is that they aren't as prison-happy over there. But if this were taking place in the states I would expect that he will be made an example of. In the States he would end up doing more time than a mass murderer. LulzSec are assholes, but if the past is any lesson, these guys are going to be crucified. I don't think any group of hackers has enraged the power-elite this much since Mitnick.
Bad-Karma
August 01, 2011 at 11:56am
Don't forget that many of LulzSec exploits occured in multiple countries around the globe. As soon as the UK courts are done with him he can be easily extradited. Any LulzSec member that is caught could be bouncing around the globe to face criminal charges for quite a while.
TerribleToaster
August 01, 2011 at 10:50am
Funny thing about laws, if you are involved in a crime, you can be implicated for every facet of it. It doesn't really matter what you did, just that you were involved first hand.
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