THE FBI has named two young Irish men as members of a six-man group said to lead a global computer hacking organisation, in indictment papers in a New York court.
The two students – Donncha O’Cearbhaill (19), from Birr, Co Offaly, and Darren Martyn (25), from Co Galway – are alleged to be members of “LulzSec”, which is regarded as a spin-off from the Anonymous internet hacking group.
The Irishmen, and three others in the UK and US, were charged yesterday for computer hacking and other crimes in New York. One of their alleged co-hackers, Hector Xavier Monsegur, a 28-year-old New Yorker, was arrested and charged last year and supplied information to the US authorities.
The FBI claims that between December 2010 and May of last year, a number of “elite hackers” with Anonymous grouped together into an entity they called “Internet Feds”, which has since become known as LulzSec.
It is alleged that between December 2010 and June 2011 the groups deliberately overwhelmed websites with the intention of temporarily crashing them and denying services to their customers
The companies that were targetted include Visa, MasterCard and PayPal. The attacks on those companies were in retaliation for their refusal to process donations to WikiLeaks.
An attack on the Fine Gael website is also included in the indictment papers unsealed in New York yesterday.
It is alleged the groups hacked the computer systems used by Fox Broadcasting, from which confidential data relating to more than 70,000 potential contestants on X Factorwere stolen.
The details of credit card company customers have also allegedly been stolen, according to the US indictment papers.
Mr O’Cearbhaill, a student of medicinal chemistry at Trinity College Dublin, is accused of an attack in January in which he is said to have gained access to the email account of a garda.
From this he gleaned information that allegedly enabled him to hack a conference call between the US authorities and gardaí in which investigations into Anonymous were discussed.
He is alleged to have recorded the call and distributed the recording to others.
He is charged in the US indictment with one count of computer hacking conspiracy. He is also charged in relation to recording the conference call, which carries up to five years in jail.
Mr Martyn is charged with two counts of computer hacking conspiracy.
Each conspiracy count carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
