Threat Management, Network Security, Network Security

Lizard Squad member Zachary Buchta receives three month sentence

One of the founders of the notorious hacking group Lizard Squad and PoodleCorp was sentenced to three months in prison after having plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit damage to a protected computer.

Zachary Buchta, 20, pleaded guilty in December in the Northern District Court for the District of Illinois to the charge and also agreed to pay a $350,000 fine. The charge carried a potential sentence of 10 years in prison, but the amount of time to be served was reduced due to Buchta's willingness to work with prosecutors, according to court documents.

Lizard Squad was best known for knocking the gaming sites Xbox Live and PlayStation Network offline on Christmas Day in 2014 with DoS attacks and then hacking Taylor Swift's social media accounts the following year. The group also stole payment card information and sold their hacking services. 

Buchta's most visible role with the group, which was comprised of an international group of men several of whom have been arrested in their countries, was to applaud Lizard Squad's activity and troll law enforcement as they tried to bring down the gang. 

His online handle was @fbiarelosers and he promoted these illegal activities through a variety of Twitter accounts, including “@pein,” “@fbiarelosers,” “@xotehpoodle,” and “@PoodleCorp,” the sentencing document stated. 

“By tweeting messages such as “Arrest us” and “You can't arrest a lizard” (and using the moniker “@fbiarelosers”), defendant encouraged others to believe such computer crimes could be committed with impunity,” the court document stated.

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