Guitarist jailed hack - A legendary British rock guitarist has been jailed for his involvement in an Anonymous hack attack on US financial institutions.
On Dec. 5th, 66-year-old Geoffrey "Jake" Commander, who has played with the likes of ELO and Elton John, was sentenced to ten days in prison by a US District Court in Virginia.
Commander was found guilty of participating in cybercrime after he became a member of a chat room belonging to the Anonymous hacking group in 2010.
Commander was among a group of about 1,000 members, who unanimously clicked an "LOIC" tool, which sends large amounts of traffic to targeted servers, this subsequently crashes the system.
Commander was charged and prosecuted with 13 other Anonymous hackers. Although he initially faced up to 19 years in prison for the crime, the prosecution reduced the crime to a misdemeanor; hence his 10-day jail sentence.
Inside sources say Commander still believes his actions on that day were a form of protest against the corrupt banks which "brought the country to its knees". Nonetheless, he described the mass hack as "impulsive, spurious and foolish."
Commander's three hour involvement with over 2,000 Anonymous activists on "Operation Payback" reportedly targeted MasterCard's website. The "LOIC" code crashed the site's server causing the company to lose over $1 million.
The prosecution denounced such cyber attacks on US financial institutions saying it could have significant consequences the companies, its customers and the general economy of the nation.
Commander is reported to have been apologetic for incurring the wrath of the justice system. "I'm mortified to have upset the government of this country, which has been my host for many years," Commander told the judge Liam O' Grady.
According to Commander's attorney, Drewry Hutcheson Jr., the rock musician was offered the option of serving his 10-day jail sentence on weekends but he refused.
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