Skip to Main Content

Is LulzSec's Leader at DefCon?

Several members of the hacktivist group have been caught in recent weeks, but not purported ringleader Sabu. Now he says he's in Las Vegas at the DefCon show.

August 5, 2011

Is Sabu at the DefCon security conference in Las Vegas? The LulzSec co-founder claimed to have been available Friday for a face-to-face meet up at the show in a series of tweets that turned into an exchange of taunts with an adversarial "hacktivist for good" who has made it his mission to unmask Sabu and other anonymous hackers.

"Come find me in the middle of the vendor room, directly opposite No Starch Press. Mention ANTISEC and get a free sticker," Sabu tweeted from his @anonymouSabu account at about 1.30 p.m. PT.

Meanwhile, thejester (th3j35t3r in leetspeak), the LulzSec nemesis who now also goes by the handle Robin Sage, claimed to be at DefCon as well and challenged Sabu to meet with him in public.

Sabu, however, balked at the idea, tweeting: "@th3j35t3r Again, you're still trying to set me up with #feds. How about you MAN UP and meet me privately. I'm not going to jail for you."

Several alleged members and associates of LulzSec have been arrested in recent weeks, including Jake Davis, a.k.a. Topiary, who reportedly ran LulzSec's public relations, and thought to be Tflow, another founding member of the hacktivist group. Other alleged hackers who reportedly worked with LulzSec during the group's earlier this year were arrested in by federal authorities on July 19.

It's unconfirmed as yet whether Sabu was truly in attendance at DefCon—risking his own neck in such a brazen way seems counter to the previous behavior of the de facto leader of LulzSec, who frequently cautioned other members to cover their tracks carefully in IRC chat logs leaked to the Guardian in June.

In one tweet, Sabu does refer to "two feds that came to the booth," presumably the No Starch Press booth on the vendor floor at DefCon: "One bald with maroon shirt. And the other with a crewcut Buy a calendar and you might see me LOL."

Nor is it clear if thejester was actually at the conference, either—though he did claim to have left a note where Sabu and others might find it: "@anonymousabu I left a note on the #defcon 19 signing sign outside the vendor room, if you are here open it tell me what it says."

A photo another tweeter supposedly took of that note shows a series of seemingly random numbers and letters resembling a serial code or product key: C2DC37A7D9D323887A127F2D5171C9D. For whatever reason, that character string shows up here.

Earlier in the week, LulzSec was at the Pwnie Awards, finishing as a runner-up in the category of Epic 0wnage.