Welcome back, my aspiring cyberwarriors!
In this new series, I want to profile some the most important hackers in history. I'm hoping that you can learn from their experience and gain a broader perspective on your chosen field of study.
In this first profile, let's look at the strange case of Jeremy Hammond.
Jeremy Hammond is an anarchist-communist/hacker who believes that capitalism must be destroyed to realize a free, egalitarian society. He is also the founder of computer security training site, www.hackthissite.com.
Hammond was an extraordinary student where he grew up in suburban Chicago. He began programming computers at age 8 and won first place in a science competition for his computer programs. When Hammond entered the University of Illinois at Chicago, he exploited a flaw in the computer science department's website. He then offered to fix the flaw but was instead banned from returning to university for his second year of study (this should be a lesson for everyone on the risks of this type of activity without explicit permission, even with good intentions).
He is most famous for the Stratfor hack, where in 2011, he hacked into the private intelligence company, Stratfor. Stratfor is a kind of private CIA, monitoring political hot spots and supplying analysis to private companies and the US security community. There, he obtained over 60,000 credit card numbers and downloaded 5 million emails that included evidence of Stratfor's nefarious activities, including monitoring WikiLeaks and Anonymous. Many of these emails proved very embarrassing for Stratfor and Stratfor's clients, some of which Julian Assange's WikiLeaks published.
In the Stratfor hack, Hammond was entrapped by the FBI informer, Hector Xavier Monsegur, or "Sabu", as he was known online. Sabu encouraged Hammond to hack multiple sites while working as an FBI informant. This behavior by Sabu led many to believe that the hacks that Hammond was convicted of were actually instigated/initiated by the FBI. In addition, Hammond claimed that he could NOT have hacked the sites without the help of this FBI informant.
Hammond was arrested March 5, 2012 and was held without bail as the judge in this case believed he was a "danger to the community". Eventually, in May 2013 (over 1 year later), Hammond plead guilty to violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). This is the 1986 law that is used in the majority of US prosecutions of hacking crimes (for more information, see "Be Careful Out There. The Legal Issues of Hacking" and our class Criminal Law for Hackers, available in our online store).
One of the many unsettling facts of Hammond's case is that the judge in his case, Loretta A. Preska, was married to Thomas Kavaler. Kevaler's email was one of the emails leaked by Hammond in the Stratfor hack. Kaveler was associated with Stratfor and worked with Stratfor's clients. This means that judge had a personal stake in the case and should have recused (removed) herself for another impartial, unbiased judge. Jeremy's lawyers moved to remove her from the case and she refused to do so.
Eventually, Hammond was sentenced to ten years in prison and three years of supervised release.
Summary and Lessons Learned
We can learn many lessons from Jeremy Hammond's unfortunate case.
First, be careful in breaching any site, even if you have best intentions.
Second, steer clear of the intelligence agencies and their associated companies like Stratfor. They will be brutal with you when they find you as they were with Jeremy.
Third, be careful who you associate with online. Jeremy trusted Sabu and Sabu was encouraging and helping him to hack Stratfor and other websites, all while working for the FBI. This is textbook entrapment.
Fourth, the US and other countries imprison people before trial. In Jeremy's case, he was held without bail. This means that no amount of money would enable him to be released, pre-trial to prepare with his attorney for his trial. Even if the judge had approved his release on bail, very often the bail is so high that ordinary people can not put up this sum ($100,000 - $500,000, for case like this). This places inordinate pressure upon the detained person to plead guilty, whether they are or not.
Fifth, prosecutors and judges are not without their own interests in these cases. Prosecutors are political appointees in the US and often have greater political ambitions, such as becoming a congress person, attorney general or senator. Prosecuting high profile cases, such as Hammond's, gets the prosecutor's name in the headlines and helps their political ambitions. In addition, the judge in Jeremy Hammond's case, was not impartial and should have recused (removed) herself for a judge without a bias in the case.
We will never know that true nature of this case unless Jeremy decides to talk about it. After his shoddy treatment by the U.S. judicial system, I would not blame him if he chose not to.