Audio By Carbonatix
A Phoenix man was arrested this morning for allegedly being a member — or former member — of the computer hacking group LulzSec, which claimed responsibility for the security breach of the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s computer system earlier this year.
Cody Kretsinger, 23, was arrested after a grand jury returned an indictment charging him with conspiracy and the unauthorized impairment of a protected computer.
Federal authorities in Los Angeles say Kretsinger, who was living in Tempe at the time, is responsible for hacking into the Sony Pictures Entertainment website and stealing confidential information from the company from May 27 through June 2.
According to the indictment, Kretsinger, who goes by the Internet handle of “recursion,” used a proxy server to attempt to hide his Internet Protocol (IP) address as he stole confidential information from Sony and passed it along to other members of LulzSec.
Will you step up to support New Times this year?
We’re aiming to raise $30,000 by December 31, so we can continue covering what matters most to you. If New Times matters to you, please take action and contribute today, so when news happens, our reporters can be there.
Other members of the hacking group then posted the information on its website after announcing the cyber-attack on the group’s Twitter page.
LulzSec is the same group that took responsibility for hacking into the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s computer system earlier this year.
In late June, the hackers announced they’d breached the DPS’ computer system in protest of SB 1070, Arizona’s controversial immigration law, and “the racial profiling anti-immigrant police state that is Arizona.”
Read more about the DPS hacking here.
The indictment is only for the hacking of the Sony website and does not include the breach of the DPS’ computer system.
The investigation is ongoing, and indictments for other members of the group are expected.
If convicted, Kretsinger faces up to 15 years in prison.
