We are anonymous inside the hacker world of lulzse

Feeling the strain that Wednesday night, June 8, Topiary sent a message to Sabu asking if he was around and wanted to talk. He was
hoping for a simple chat about security or maybe life in general. But Sabu didn’t respond. Just a few hours earlier, Monsegur had been in
court signing agreement papers with the FBI. With Sabu offline for several hours now, Topiary battled a strange sense of foreboding.
“I’m starting to get quite worried some arrests might actually happen,” he remarked that evening, U.K. time, in a rare expression of
emotion. It wasn’t the enemy hackers, Jester, or even the Bitcoin donation that had come out of the blue. Backtrace had just published the
document claiming to dox the team members of LulzSec, though again, he was sure that all the names of his colleagues were wrong. “I just
have a weird feeling something bad is inbound for us, I don’t know why.”
He remembered how he had mentioned similar concerns a few days earlier to Sabu after the M_nerva leak, and how Sabu had suddenly
seemed more worried too. (This had been before Sabu’s arrest.) Topiary had always been the calm one in their group, Sabu’s brain of reason.
Once Topiary started to get nervous, it was perhaps another signal to Sabu that they were in too deep. As the two had continued talking, they
both decided that in spite of all the heat they were inviting, they could not just stop now. Momentum was too strong, expectations too high.
They would carry on and run on faith in their ability to stay hidden. A small part of each of them had also accepted that arrest would probably
happen at some point.
Did Topiary now fully trust Sabu and Kayla? In answering that question Wednesday night, he said that he trusted them “more than anyone
else” in the group, and Sabu in particular.
“I treat Sabu as more important to me than mostly anyone online,” he said. “If I get arrested, I’m not snitching on them.”
But the niggling feeling came in part from knowing that Sabu had been social-engineering people for more than a decade and the weird
fact that Sabu trusted him so much despite having known him for only a few months. For instance, Sabu had told Topiary his first name,
Hector, a month before, had trusted him with his Google Voice number, had told him the names of a few of his friends, and even mentioned
that he lived in New York City. When Topiary had asked a few weeks prior what Sabu knew about him, wondering if he had the same
amount of information, Sabu had replied: “A U.K. guy that does good accents, which makes me think you’re not really from the U.K.”
Topiary, who had an unusual Scottish-Norwegian accent developed from playing online games with Scandinavian friends, had never told
Sabu his real first name or confirmed that he lived on the British Isles or named any of his friends. It was almost as if Sabu didn’t really care
anymore about hiding his own true identity.
Topiary considered himself to be less reckless in that regard than Sabu. Plus, living in such a remote part of the world had made him feel
safe. He doubted the police would even bother traveling up to the Shetland Islands.
Topiary went to bed. Getting to sleep was difficult. He tossed and turned, then had a strange nightmare and woke up at 5:00 a.m.,
shouting. He hadn’t done that in years. It was still dark outside, but he got out of bed and went into his living room anyway. He sat in his
gaming chair and signed in to #pure-elite. Suddenly, he was bombarded with messages.
“Sabu is gone,” one of the crew members said. The LulzSec team finally noticed that he had been missing for more than twenty-four
hours.
Chapter 22
The Return of Ryan, the End of Reason
Topiary was anxious and confused. He was sure someone was lying. First Kayla had reported rumors on a public IRC network that Sabu
had been raided. Then someone else had said his two daughters were sick and in the hospital. Then another person whom Topiary knew as a
real-life friend of Sabu’s also claimed he had been raided. Then he heard the hospital story from yet another source. There was a fifty-fifty
split on what had happened. Topiary wanted to believe the hospital story. Typically, in paranoid hacker circles or Anonymous, if someone
disappeared from a public IRC for a while and without reason, people assumed the worst (an FBI raid). But if Sabu had suddenly wanted to
go back underground, he would have told a few trusted people to say different things.
Topiary started calling Sabu’s Google Voice number every hour but got no answer. It was unusual for him not to be online for more than
half a day. Topiary waited and hoped Sabu wasn’t in a cell being questioned or, worse, snitching. On IRC, Sabu was still logged on. Once
his nickname had been idle for twenty-four hours, the team killed it, just in case Feds were watching.
“I’m quite worried,” Topiary said that morning.
Sabu had given him instructions the week before that if he was ever caught, Topiary should access his Twitter feed and tweet as normal
while the team should keep announcing hacks. If the Feds did have Sabu, this could be his ticket to avoiding some charges. Topiary’s heart
sank when he looked at Sabu’s Twitter account and was reminded of how much the hacker had motivated him. The short bio read: “To all
Anons: you all are part of something amazing and powerful. Do not succumb to fear tactics that are so obvious and archaic. Stay free.” Sabu
may have been hot-tempered, but he could also be inspiring.
Kayla was just as concerned. “I’m gonna turn the Internet upside down if I find out Sabu’s been hit,” she told Topiary.
Still, the team was in a catch-22. If Sabu had been caught and forced to divulge information, then there was a large chance the Feds could
monitor what they were doing. If they did nothing or fled, that would immediately implicate Sabu.
As evening fell, Topiary rang Sabu’s number again. Suddenly, someone picked up the phone. There was no voice. “Uh, who’s this?”
Topiary asked.
“David Davidson.”
It was Sabu. Topiary let out a sigh of relief. Sabu sounded like he had a cold or had been crying. Sabu explained that his grandmother had
died and that he had had to help with funeral arrangements. He then asked if the rest of the team was around and if Topiary could inform
them that he was back. Topiary at first didn’t care that Sabu might have been lying—he was just glad to speak to him again. Not long after,