Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has arrested a British man suspected of being part Lizard Squad, which hacked into the U.S. Department of Defense last year
Top British law enforcement agency, NCA said that it has arrested a 23-year-old British male citizen from Sutton Coldfield in central England on Wednesday. NCA said that the arrested man is alleged a member of the infamous band of hackers called Lizard Squad and has been charged with taking part in the cyber attack on the US DoD and stole contact details for about 800 of the department’s staff worldwide, such as email addresses and phone numbers.
NCA said that the hackers also stole details of 34,400 devices including IMEI numbers that identify a specific phone, although no sensitive data was stolen and none could be used to identify people personally or compromise U.S. national security interests. The data formed part of the Department of Defense’s international satellite message dissemination system.
The hackers also posted screen shots of the website dashboard on the Pastebin website alongwith a message to the US authorities, ย the NCA said. The message read as follows
“We smite the Lizards, LizardSquad your time is near. Weโre in your bases, we control your satellites. The missiles shall rein upon thy who claim alliance, watch your heads, ** T-47:59:59 until lift off.ย We’re one, we’re many, we lurk in the dark, we’re everywhere and anywhere. Live Free Die Hard! DoD, DISA EMSS : Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services is not all, Department of Defense has no Defenses.”
โThis arrest underscores DCIS [Defence Criminal Investigative Service] commitment and the joint ongoing efforts among international law enforcement to stop cyber criminals in their tracks, DCIS Special Agents will use every tool at their disposal to pursue and bring to justice those that attack the Department of Defence,โ said US Department of Defence Criminal Investigative Service special agent Jeffrey Thorpe.
The NCA said the arrest was one of 56 made by police forces across Britain coordinated by the agency’s National Cyber Crime Unit.