Ryan Cleary, a member of LulzSec who was allegedly behind a number of attacks on networks including the PlayStation Network, has admitted to hacking several websites. He pleaded guilty and confessed to four charges, including hacking into the U.S. Air Force Agency computers. Cleary and fellow hacker Jake Davis targeted videogame companies and sites like Sony, Nintendo, Bethesda, and Eve Online in a series of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
You likely recall the cyber attacks on the PSN back in 2011, and the subsequent outage, password resets, and E3 2011 apology. For several weeks, the PSN was offline while Sony investigated. Rumors soon followed of credit card information theft.
Cleary admitted he targeted Sony, but also an assortment of agencies and companies, including the Arizona State Police, PBS, 20th Century Fox, and the CIA. Cleary’s sentencing is expect in April 2013.
Both Cleary and Davis denied allegations of posting ‘unlawfully obtained confidential computer data’ on public websites including Pirate Bay, PasteBin, and LulzSec.com. Everyone but Cleary were released on bail, and U.S. prosecutors have said they will no longer seek extradition, and instead let the U.K. courts handle the case.