The suspected leader of the LulzSec hacker group has pleaded guilty to carrying out cyber attacks on companies such as eBay Inc's PayPal and MasterCard Inc, court papers unsealed on Tuesday showed.
Hector Xavier Monsegur, known as "Sabu," was charged with 12 criminal counts of conspiracy to engage in computer hacking and other crimes in court papers in Manhattan federal court.
The charges were filed via a criminal information, which means the suspect has likely been cooperating with the government.
LulzSec, an underground group also known as Lulz Security, and fellow hacking group Anonymous have taken credit for carrying out a number of high-profile hacking actions against companies and institutions including the CIA, Britain's Serious Organized Crime Agency, Japan's Sony Corp and Mexican government websites.
Copyright Thompson Reuters