Anonymous Hacker-Turned-Informant Sabu Sentenced to One Year's Probation

Hector Monsegur, aka Sabu, has been sentenced to time served and one year's probation for his part in cyber-attacks against the likes of Sony, Nintendo, Visa and Mastercard.

Monsegur was appearing before Judge Loretta Preska at the Southern District of New York having had his sentencing date previously postponed six times at the request of the FBI, whom Monsegur was cooperating with in order to identify his fellow hackers within the hacktivist collective Anonymous and in particular its off-shoot LulzSec.

Monsegur was a high profile member of Anonymous when he was arrested in June 2011 but almost immediately decided to cooperate with the FBI to track down his fellow hackers.

In a presentence report submitted by the FBI, the agency called for leniency for what it called "extraordinarily valuable and productive" cooperation.

"Monsegur's consistent and corroborated historical information, coupled with his substantial proactive cooperation and other evidence developed in the case, contributed directly to the identification, prosecution and conviction of eight of his major co-conspirators, including Hammond, who at the time of his arrest was the FBI's number one cybercriminal target in the world," the report said.

Monsegur has been working with the FBI since and in a report presented to the court ahead of today's sentencing, the FBI praised his "extraordinary cooperation" and pointed out his help in tracking down, arresting and convicting Jeremy Hammond, who at the time was the FBI's most wanted cybercriminal.

Monsegur also helped the FBI to track down members of LulzSec, an off-shoot of Anonymous for which Sabu was seen as a leader. Three of the six core members of LulzSec were UK citizens and were sentenced in May of last year.

Jake Davis (aka Topiary), Mustafa Al-Bassam (aka T-Flow) and Ryan Ackroyd (aka Kayla) are all now free.

The FBI's presentence report called for leniency for what the agency called "extraordinarily valuable and productive" cooperation.

"Monsegur's consistent and corroborated historical information, coupled with his substantial proactive cooperation and other evidence developed in the case, contributed directly to the identification, prosecution and conviction of eight of his major co-conspirators, including Hammond, who at the time of his arrest was the FBI's number one cybercriminal target in the world," the report said.

In March 2012, and following the arrest of some members of LulzSec, Monesgur's role as an FBI informant was made public and while the FBI said it acted as a deterrent throughout the hacking community, it led to threats against Monsegur.

During the course of his cooperation, the threat to Monsegur and his family became severe enough that the FBI relocated Monsegur and certain of his family members. Indeed one of his relatives was involved in a physical altercation regarding Monsegur's cooperation.

The report says Monsegur was repeatedly "approached on the street and threatened or menaced about his cooperation once it became publicly known."

Monsegur was also harassed by individuals who incorrectly concluded that he participated in the Government's prosecution of the operators of the Silk Road website.