Hacktivist Sabu: Anonymous traitor or FBI martyr?

Hacktivism: a term coined about 14 years ago that now has more meaning than ever in the history of our world. Hacking of Indonesian government websites, the Mexican finance department website, the Pentagon website, the World Trade Organization web server, the World Economic Forum web server, the World Bank web server, Scientology websites, the CNN website, the European Climate Exchange website, Mastercard and Visa websites, the Department of Justice website, FBI and CIA databases, most recently the Vatican website and so many other illegal breaches by hacktivist organizations has led to the realization that cyber-security may very well be our nation’s number one threat today.

That is precisely why the arrest of a hacktivist leader, Hector Xavier Monsegur, known as ‘Sabu’ online, was a major accomplishment for the FBI. Recently released records indicate that Sabu was actually arrested in June of last year, but is only now facing his sentence because he pleaded guilty in August and agreed to assist feds in arresting more hackers. Of course, Sabu yielded to those terms in order to decrease his punishment. However, his image is now a source of disagreement within the hacktivist community: is Hector Xavier ‘Sabu’ Monsegur a martyr or a snitch?

Let’s dig deep into his soul ... as deep as one can dig into the soul of a self-protected hacking mastermind and FBI protected convict. The 28-year-old father is a self-taught, unemployed computer programmer who is of Puerto Rican descent. Before his arrest, he was living on public welfare in public housing located in the lower east side of Manhattan. As a growing leader of the worldwide hacktivist group Anonymous, Sabu became the man many hacktivists depended on and took orders from. In May of 2011, a new branch of Anonymous called LulzSec emerged, with Sabu as the head honcho. Although LulzSec lasted only a couple of months before the members disbanded, the organization is known for major hacks, some mentioned above, such as those of Fox News, UK automated teller machines, PBS, Sony Pictures, the US Senate and the US CIA. The organization is also known for having taken public requests for potential attacks.

Sabu admitted responsibility for the ones just stated and many more hacks organized by LulzSec and Anonymous. He was originally found due to credit card fraud, but he was arrested after Facebook was served a warrant by the FBI and had to give up Sabu’s message history. Since Anonymous has no real membership or leadership because of its stand alone method, which consists of following the organization’s ideology, hacking and concealing one's identity, Sabu’s admission of guilt to so many hacking scandals is a gesture of courage for many hacktivists. One LulzSec hacker in particular, who spoke extensively with Fox News, stated, “Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Sabu -- I mean of our generation, he’s going to be remembered in history.” However, this hacker would also agree with former Anonymous activist, Jennifer Emick, who stated, “Anyone who trusted Sabu is going to be in a panic right now.”

The reason for that is obvious. The FBI plus hacking genius? Sounds like some hi-tech version of Catch Me If You Can -- except Sabu is nowhere near as charming as Leonardo DiCaprio and there's no super sleuth Tom Hanks cruising around in slick shades. This turncloak tale has far more inner circle casualties, however, than some of the best Hollywood fare. It's like a cyber Don Corleone turning his own Family into the Feds.

Anyone who’s had anything to do with the major hacking scandals is in hot water right now -- like, lava hot. The former head of the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cyber Security Division, Jerry Dixon, said the Feds "are able to get members to turn in the others and peel back the onion and ferret out many more of the members.” The government and the hacking victims are happy and relieved to see the jigsaw puzzle pieces come off, in hopes of a total collapse. However, Anonymous portrays no sign of fear or possible downfall. Their Twitter feed recently had a post that stated, “Anonymous is a hydra, cut off one head we grow two back.” They have also posted several tweets about Sabu and his secret work for the FBI, warning followers to stay away from his online accounts.

“There’s some paranoia. There’s a lot of hate being spewed,” said former leader of the older, more beloved Anonymous, Gregg Housh. However, according to a law enforcement official involved in Sabu’s case, “He didn’t go easy. It was because of his kids. He didn’t want to go away to prison and leave them. That’s how we got him.” His children then, might very well view their father to be the martyr some of his peers see him as. “You don’t know who is your friend, don’t trust anybody,” blogged Sabu while he was in custody. His loyal followers believe that the post was a discrete warning to the hacktivist community; and that he had no other way to let them know that the Feds had gotten a hold of him and all of his accounts.

Still, the majority of the hacktivist community has the un-hackable mindset that Sabu is in fact a snitch. One very angry Tweet from a hacktivist said, “Last thing to say about Sabu, he’s a traitor, a coward and a fiend, and unless he shows regret I will not feel bad if anything happens to him.” It’s going to be very hard for anyone to feel bad for him when he comes out of this with the possible minimum sentence of two years that the lower Manhattan federal courtroom judge mentioned after Sabu’s admission of guilt. If Sabu did not bow down to every single one of the FBI’s demands, it would be impossible for his initial 120 plus year imprisonment sentence to diminish so drastically. Martyr? If a martyr chooses his life over the lives of the many he fought with for so long, then yes. And snitch? Well, no one put it better than Anonymous did on their Twitter feed: “If it looks & quacks like a duck, it's a ... duck.”