Thug sentenced to 10 years for hacking FBI, intel firm
Modal Trigger
Jeremy Hammond, inset, was sentenced to 10 years behind bars for stealing private information.
Photo: Post composite
He won’t be able to hack himself out of this mess.
A Manhattan federal judge on Friday threw the book at an elite member of the computer-hacking group known as “Anonymous,” sentencing him to 10 years in the slammer and another three years of supervised release for breaking into private intelligence, FBI and state public-safety Web sites and then releasing the information through WikiLeaks and other websites.
The sentence issued by Chief Judge Loretta Preska was the maximum allowed under the agreement computer whiz Jeremy Hammond cut with the government in May after he copped his plea to stealing a treasure trove of data from the private intelligence firm Stratfor’s Web site.
Prosecutors say the Stratfor hack resulted in the theft of 60,000 credit-card numbers and records for 860,000 clients, and that he and others used them to rack up more than $700,000 in unauthorized purchases.
“Yes I broke the law, but I believe sometimes laws must be broken in order to make room for change,” Hammond told Preska said.
He later claimed his hacking days are done but added, “I still believe in ‘hacktivism’ as a form of civil disobedience.”
Preska, while issuing her sentence, ripped the 28-year-old Chicago native for being “unrepentant, having a lack of respect for the law” and for failing to learn from a long list of previous criminal convictions that included spending 20 months in prison for hacking into a website that tracked anti-war protesters.
“Mr. Hammond sees himself as a modern-day Robin Hood … He says he had the best of intentions and sought to disclose information the public has a right to know, but [he] … ignores the widespread harm he’s caused to countless individuals and organizations,” Preska said.
The chief judge was not amused as parts of the two-hour hearing took the tone of a circus sideshow.
In one case, a Hammond loyalist lied his way up to a podium by pretending to be a Hammond victim. He then claimed he’s “a victim of FBI oppression” before being grabbed and thrown out the courtroom by US marshalls.
Minutes later, a self-proclaimed cyber criminal claiming to be a Hammond victim spent 10 minutes telling the judge how “Anonymous” members are routinely terrorizing him and his parents with various fast-food-ordering pranks like “pizza bombing” and “Chinese food bombing. He also said they were victims of “SWATTING,” a term used for making bogus 9-1-1 calls so that SWAT and other emergency crews respond to a targeted location.
“Your Honor, do you know what SWATTING is? … Have you ever been pizza bombed?” said Vincent Vocce, causing dozens of Hammond supporters to break out in laughter before the judge ordered them to shut up.
Armed more than 265 letters of support, Hammond’s lawyers had sought a sentence of 20-months time served and even tried to paint his actions as being similar to those of “our founding fathers” and Martin Luther King, who also fought for government “change.”
“Jeremy Hammond … decided to use his skills to break the law,” lawyer Sarah Kunstler said. “He did so out of concern that technologies were enabling governments and corporations to gather information on individuals and organizations without oversight and scrutiny.”
Hammond’s illegal intrusions also included compromising security for the FBI’s “Virtual Academy,” the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association and the Jefferson County, Ala., Sheriff’s Office, officials said.
He was busted last year after the feds flipped Hector Xavier Monsegur, a leader of Anonymous offshoot LulzSec. Monsegur, of the Lower East Side, is a famed hacker known as “Sabu” who disappeared after helping authorities infiltrate the group.
A Manhattan federal judge on Friday threw the book at an elite member of the computer-hacking group known as “Anonymous,” sentencing him to 10 years in the slammer and another three years of supervised release for breaking into private intelligence, FBI and state public-safety Web sites and then releasing the information through WikiLeaks and other websites.
The sentence issued by Chief Judge Loretta Preska was the maximum allowed under the agreement computer whiz Jeremy Hammond cut with the government in May after he copped his plea to stealing a treasure trove of data from the private intelligence firm Stratfor’s Web site.
Prosecutors say the Stratfor hack resulted in the theft of 60,000 credit-card numbers and records for 860,000 clients, and that he and others used them to rack up more than $700,000 in unauthorized purchases.
“Yes I broke the law, but I believe sometimes laws must be broken in order to make room for change,” Hammond told Preska said.
He later claimed his hacking days are done but added, “I still believe in ‘hacktivism’ as a form of civil disobedience.”
Preska, while issuing her sentence, ripped the 28-year-old Chicago native for being “unrepentant, having a lack of respect for the law” and for failing to learn from a long list of previous criminal convictions that included spending 20 months in prison for hacking into a website that tracked anti-war protesters.
“Mr. Hammond sees himself as a modern-day Robin Hood … He says he had the best of intentions and sought to disclose information the public has a right to know, but [he] … ignores the widespread harm he’s caused to countless individuals and organizations,” Preska said.
The chief judge was not amused as parts of the two-hour hearing took the tone of a circus sideshow.
In one case, a Hammond loyalist lied his way up to a podium by pretending to be a Hammond victim. He then claimed he’s “a victim of FBI oppression” before being grabbed and thrown out the courtroom by US marshalls.
Minutes later, a self-proclaimed cyber criminal claiming to be a Hammond victim spent 10 minutes telling the judge how “Anonymous” members are routinely terrorizing him and his parents with various fast-food-ordering pranks like “pizza bombing” and “Chinese food bombing. He also said they were victims of “SWATTING,” a term used for making bogus 9-1-1 calls so that SWAT and other emergency crews respond to a targeted location.
“Your Honor, do you know what SWATTING is? … Have you ever been pizza bombed?” said Vincent Vocce, causing dozens of Hammond supporters to break out in laughter before the judge ordered them to shut up.
Armed more than 265 letters of support, Hammond’s lawyers had sought a sentence of 20-months time served and even tried to paint his actions as being similar to those of “our founding fathers” and Martin Luther King, who also fought for government “change.”
“Jeremy Hammond … decided to use his skills to break the law,” lawyer Sarah Kunstler said. “He did so out of concern that technologies were enabling governments and corporations to gather information on individuals and organizations without oversight and scrutiny.”
Hammond’s illegal intrusions also included compromising security for the FBI’s “Virtual Academy,” the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association and the Jefferson County, Ala., Sheriff’s Office, officials said.
He was busted last year after the feds flipped Hector Xavier Monsegur, a leader of Anonymous offshoot LulzSec. Monsegur, of the Lower East Side, is a famed hacker known as “Sabu” who disappeared after helping authorities infiltrate the group.
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