Guilty! LulzSec Tangodown!

Members of the hacking group LulzSec have pleaded guilty to hacking a number of websites. Ryan Cleary, 20, from Essex’s and Jake Davis, 19, from the Shetland Isles, admitting being part of the hacking group LulzSec.

Cleary confessed to four charges, including hacking into US Air Force Agency computers, based at the Pentagon. Both confessed to running denial of service attacks against a number of targets, including the websites of Sony, NHS, News International, 20th Century Fox and Nintendo.

While confessing to some of the charges, both Davis and Cleary denied allegations they posted 'unlawfully obtained confidential computer data' to public websites including the LulzSec website, and popular hacker dumping grounds Pirate Bay and PasteBin, in order to encourage offences contrary to the Serious Crime Act.

Lulzsec splintered from the better known hacking collective, Anonymous in mid 2011. They claimed responsibility for hacking the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) website. This turned the UK agency’s eyes towards the group, which likely contributed to the group’s eventual downfall.

Two other individuals are under suspicion of belonging to the same hacking group, Ryan Ackroyd, 25, from South Yorkshire and an unnamed 17 year old, from south-London, both of which deny further charges of cyber attacks.

All four individuals will face trial in April 2013 for the denied charges.

Cleary, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, also faced charges in the US for defacing a number of websites, including News International and the website for the US version of X-Factor. However, the US government recently announced that it would not extradite Cleary and was happy for him to be dealt with by the UK courts.

Whatever the outcome it is unlikely any of the four will be welcome in the US anytime soon.

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