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Latest LulzSec hacker arrested in US

The FBI has arrested another member of the LulzSec hacker collective in its ongoing crackdown on cyber crooks.
Lulzsec hacker arrests jake davisEnlarge

The FBI is continuing to track down and arrest former members of the infamous LulzSec hacker collective.

Raynaldo Rivera, 20, surrendered to the FBI on Tuesday after being after being indicted by a federal grand jury last week. Rivera is charged with conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer. 

The indictment was made public on Tuesday and accuses Rivera of taking part in a hack against Sony last May using an SQL injection against Sony Pictures’ website. The indictment also alleges that Rivera was LulzSec media coordinator announcing the hack against Sony on the group Twitter account as well as other websites. 

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If convicted, Rivera faces a maximum of 15 years in prison. 

Using the online monikers “neuron," “royal” and “wildicv," Rivera is alleged to have published Sony’s information to other LulzSec members who later distributed the information through the collectives' Twitter account. 

Rivera’s arrest follows revelations that former LulzSec head was working closely with the FBI after his sentencing was postponed. Hector Monsegur, better known by his hacker handle Sabu, worked with the FBI in three arrests and two charges of conspiracy against other members of LulzSec.

A number of LulzSec members have been arrested and subsequently appeared in court. In the UK, Ryan Cleary, 19, and Jake Davis, 18, both plead guilty last June. However, they and two others, Ryan Ackroyd, 25, and a 17-year-old boy, pleaded not guilty to other related charges, according to the BBC. 

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The structure of LulzSec has been characteristically smaller and more focused than the leaderless Anonymous hacker collective. A larger and more amorphous body of individuals, Anonymous hackers share only a common ethos and rarely operate as a team.

During their 50-day hacking spree during the summer of 2011, the group took credit for attacks on sites belonging to Sony,, the US Senate, CIA, Arizona sheriffs and many other before announcing that the LulzBoat was headed for port.