LulzSec suspects plead guilty to DDoS attacks

Pelted police, spooks, corps with digital refuse

Two LulzSec hacking suspects have admitted launching hacking attacks against the CIA and the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency.

Ryan Cleary, 20, of Wickford, Essex, and Jake Davis, 19, of Lerwick, Shetland, both admitted involvement in a string of computer hacking attacks at a hearing at London's Southwark Crown Court on Monday. The two reportedly confessed to running distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against News International, Sony, Nintendo, Arizona State police, 20th Century Fox, HBGary Federal, Bethesda, Eve Online and others as part of operations run by various hacking groups including Anonymous, Internet Feds and LulzSec.

Cleary also admitted hacking into systems at the Pentagon.

However both men deny allegations they uploaded "unlawfully obtained confidential computer data" to public websites in order to encourage the commission of offences contrary to the Serious Crime Act.

Two other accused hacking suspects – Ryan Ackroyd, 25, of Mexborough, Doncaster, and a 17-year-old student from south London – deny charges stemming from their alleged participation in DDoS attack run by LulzSec. A trial of the pair on these charges was set for 8 April 2013.

LulzSec – or the Lulz Security hacking collective – began as an offshoot of the Anonymous hacking group. ®