Story of the 'two-hacker' Sabu: Anonymous traitor, the hero of the FBI

After shaking hands with the government to uncover the world's leading hacker organization, he has a long journey full of sweat and tears fleeing his past.

On June 8, 2011, when it was still early in the morning, Hector Monsegur sat in a small room with a bunch of computers around: he was sitting at the FBI office located in Manhattan. The night before, he had been arrested by a group of FBI agents for sending stolen credit card information to an acquaintance.

But that was only the most recent offense of Hector Monsegur - notorious hackers with the nickname Sabu: his sinful past including infiltrating the system of multi-billion dollar corporations, attacking many national governments, high-ranking members of the popular Anonymous organization and co-founder / scallop of the famous black hat hackers organization, LulzSec - Lulz Security.

It may have been different, when Monsegur could absolutely call himself a defense lawyer, quite likely to refuse to plead guilty under the name of "Sabu" hacker. But he didn't do that and he had his reasons. At the time of his arrest, Monsegur was taking care of his two grandchildren who were 5 and 7 years old. The mother of two girls went to jail for trafficking in heroin and their father was no longer here. He wanted to do everything to be able to continue taking care of his two grandchildren, he feared what might happen under the roof of the orphanage.

The FBI saw this weakness, and opened a way for him, a contract that Mr. Monsegur could not deny. You can help the Federal Bureau of Investigation penetrate the underground hackers to exploit information.

The instinct of a hacker made him bluntly reject this offer. " I feel that I am betraying myself, against the great meaning that I believe in ." But then, another instinct emerged - he thought of the two little girls he was taking care of.

The sun is high when the FBI takes him to court. You have been temporarily released by guarantee. Monsegur went home, showered clean and that afternoon, he went to school to pick up two nieces. The three of them reunited, happy with tears, with the thought that they might have to be apart forever.

Over the next nine months, Monsegur worked secretly for the US government. He still continued to act as a hacker in the virtual community, as if nothing had happened. The difference, is that after each conversation with other hacker "colleagues," he reported everything to the investigating agency, in order to search for hidden hackers.

March 6, 2012, with a series of articles featuring unnamed law enforcement officers searching for hackers, it is known about Hector "Sabu" Monsegur's hackers' betrayal. Shortly after the event, the court issued documents stating the regional activity and cooperating with the Monsegur government.

" On the fifth day of March, everyone loved Sabu, I was the best boy in this universe, " Monsegur recalled. " On March 6th, I am Benedict Arnold. I am a traitor. I am Sammy 'Graveyard' Gravano. I am the dirtiest man ever to exist in the world . " He cited the example of famous traitorous individuals in history, comparing his actions with his predecessors.

Monsegur didn't want to talk much about the time he worked for the FBI. On the one hand, his actions caused the underworld to view him as a pervert. But on the other hand, he did so to save his two young grandchildren, at least until their mother's death. He, though a criminal, is still the star who gives the way for two girls who are no longer close. The night he decided to betray Anonymous, he set foot on a new and different road, the path he struggled to find a way out.

After the US government released Monsegur's identity in March 2012, he tried to avoid public opinion. Reporters from all over the place came to his small apartment, the FBI moved him, two young girls were taken to their mother to take care of - the mother had completed her prison term several months earlier. But in May of that same year, the FBI discovered that Mr. Monsegur was still keeping a blog mentioning the FBI. Monsegur's bail had been deprived, he was taken to the Metropolitan Rehabilitation Center, which was mentioned by several people as "New York City's Guantanamo prison".

He had to sit in solitary confinement with terrorists, kidnappers, but in that time he found himself: he thought about what he had done, what he should focus on. future.

Before Christmas, Monsegur was released and still had the right to bail. The family came to pick him up, they admired the newly released man who devoured a hotdog cake, drank a glass of soda and smoked a cigarette - luxuries that no prisoner would dream of. He was happy that he had returned to his two nieces, and understood that he needed a clean job to continue to support the two girls and his family.

But it was not that simple, especially when he realized that he was in a time of trial: he was not allowed to be near the computer, and that meant he couldn't do the only thing he knew. , the only skill that can earn money to support the family. His sentence is still in the review stage and is delayed day after month. His aunt, who had accompanied his deceased grandmother to take care of Monsegur since childhood, recalled that he was under too much pressure, facing too many obstacles to lose sight in a short time. He accepted the advice that he should go to psychological examination, but he never did.

Nearly three years after Monsegur was arrested, he was brought before the court to hear the verdict. But it was a sentencing that perhaps no experienced reporter witnessed: both defense lawyers, prosecutors and judges praised Monsegur's actions. He was declared to have completed his sentence with 7 months of imprisonment done, which is far less than the norm of at least 2 years for his crime. There was a time when he faced a 120-year sentence! The judge smiled at him that she hoped Monsegur would use his skills for a better purpose.

Monsegur was released, but within the next year, his use of the computer was closely monitored. He worked as a truck driver during that time to help his family. The ban was lifted in May 2015, but once again entered the cyber world, he was still worried.

Rather, the word "paranoia" must be used to describe the feeling of Monsegur at the time. He worries that he will click on a misleading link, the authorities will take him to jail again. But computer skills are the only thing he understands, he must overcome that fear. Monsegur applied to work for the industry, which he once encouraged and despised: the information security industry.

For most companies, his guilty past did more than enough for them to slide him from the input. He is also known for being a "cheap seller's hacker" - something that employers must consider carefully. On many fronts, Monsegur did not have a sympathetic image. His refusal to fly home was as much as the number of applications he sent.

In the summer of 2015, Benjamin Caudill - the founder of a small cyber security company called Rhino Security Laboratory - stood in the midst of a storm of public opinion. At that time Caudill published a controversial tool, allowing anyone to go online but hide their MAC address. Soon after, Caudill abandoned this project for unknown reasons. While netizens scrutinized and criticized Caudill, there was a person who understood him and texted him, which was Monsegur.

A few years ago, Caudill and Monsegur were on both ends of the front line. When Monsegur was LulzSec's leader, Caudill was working for Boeing, who was selling aircraft and weapons to the US government. Caudill had wondered how to protect his company before Anonymous and now, one of those who had been close to Anonymous texted him.

Caudill had his own doubts - Monsegur's "wholesome" flew far away - but immediately answered the message. They texted on Twitter, the short conversation soon turned into an hour-long phone call. After the two of them were happy to talk about current security issues, Mr. Caudill realized that the person talking to him was not the same person that the information on the web still described.

" I wouldn't believe it if I didn't really experience the words he said," Caudill repeated. "He is really an extremely gentle, kind individual."

They became friends like that. And when he learned that Monsegur was looking for a job, Caudill contacted all the people he knew could help. Contrary to expectations, no one helped a prisoner. So Caudill himself hired Monsegur to work for himself in the Fall of 2015.

At that time, Rhino's business was getting better, and at that time, there was a client who often appeared with the most thorny jobs. Caudill appointed Monsegur to work on this project. Monsegur was surprised by the offer and, as Caudill said, "completed the job with excellence" . Mr. Caudill then introduced Mr. Monsegur to many other customers. Some people are hesitant, some people bluntly refuse. But there were individuals who nodded in agreement. After a few small projects, Caudill hired Monsegur as a full-time employee.

Today, Mr. Monsegur is the director of the situation assessment service in Rhino, responsible for coordinating white hat hacking to test the client's network before black hat hackers attack them. Monsegur is the boss of a five-man team, whose job is exactly the same as when he was not paid - except that his hacker team would not take advantage of the flaw, but report back to the customer and Find ways to fix them.

Monsegur did not remember his sinful life."I was tired of being a hacker, " he said. " I consider studying security as a real job and turning it into a homogeneous, non-climax job. I try to optimize the results for customers to get things done early and do something. other ".

Monsegur, now 34 years old, considers it a result of being older and more mature. But his aunt seemed a bit sad about this change. "He was exhausted by the computer screen. He no longer loved computers. There was no love in his eyes like the time I gave him the first computer."

And Mr. Monsegur has advice to young people like this: Put the phone down, close the laptop and walk outside to enjoy some air. And there's one more thing, don't ever go into your car.

He also thought back to the previous attacks he had directed and carried out, the biggest scandals involving the Anonymous group. He regretted a lot, that in the old days, I thought it was a big meaning, but it really didn't change much. Many cases of revealing personal information so far can still be used, and he is ashamed of it.

To this day, Mr. Monsegur's aunt still worries about the safety of the small family that he built up. The government "had what they wanted. They had what they needed. And they let us come here to manage our lives."

Monsegur said that the government was too vocal about his contributions to taking down his hacker colleagues. During the verdict, it was clear that he had to endure so much, his defense lawyer insisted on the decision to announce his identity early on. Government is looking for "blocking effect" hacking activity.

Monsegur concurred, saying: "Their goal is to threaten Anonymous with fear of death and they have succeeded. A perfect success" . The media clung to every word, they were uncompromising before the offender Hector Monsegur. That made him heartbroken.

Old familiar horses are real. Sometimes Monsegur still had to stop himself from entering the old road. But he knew that his life was very different if he made another choice, he was fortunate that he had a second chance to do it again."I chose it, " he repeated this sentence many times, as a slogan that made me more confident.

Monsegur's two grandchildren are now 12 and 14 years old, old enough to know what he did in the past and why it was wrong. Both girls were honorable students, and their mother said they were both off to a very good start.

Monsegur laughed and said that he was eager to stop the two girls from the other world. And he knew that they would be angry with him if he tried to do it. He simply thought that there were a lot of bad people out there waiting to harm innocent innocent souls.

But he couldn't help but smile contentedly, much to the delight of mentioning that the 12-year-old is very interested in programming. The next thing that he will do, is to find her a programming program that is just enough to "research".