A 24-year-old cyber activist linked to Anonymous has been arrested and charged with hacking the website of Kiss frontman Gene Simmons.
Kevin George Poe (aka spydr101) stands accused of using a Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC) to bombard GeneSimmons.com under the auspices of a massive DDoS campaign for five days in October 2010.
Poe – who was charged with conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer – could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
As Sophos security expert Graham Cluley notes, Simmons drew the ire of hacktivists after giving a controversial speech at the MIPCOM convention in Cannes.
“Make sure your brand is protected. Make sure there are no incursions. Be litigious. Sue everybody. Take their homes, their cars,” urged Simmons.
“Don’t let anybody cross that line, The music industry was asleep at the wheel, and didn’t have the balls to sue every fresh-faced, freckle-faced college kid who downloaded material. And so now we’re left with hundreds of thousands of people without jobs. There’s no industry.”
Unsurprisingly, GeneSimmons.com was subsequently downed by a DDoS attack, with visitors being redirected to the Pirate Bay torrent site. After regaining control of his website, Simmons published the following threat:
“Some of you may have heard a few popcorn farts re: our sites being threatened by hackers. Our legal team and the FBI have been on the case and we have found a few, shall we say ‘adventurous’ young people, who feel they are above the law.
“And, as stated in my MIPCOM speech, we will sue their pants off. First, they will be punished. Second, they might find their little butts in jail, right next to someone who’s been there for years and is looking for a new girl friend. We will soon be printing their names and pictures. We will find you. You cannot hide. Stay tuned.”
The 62-year-old Simmons founded Kiss in 1973 and has appeared in a number of TV reality shows, including “Gene Simmons Family Jewels” and “Rock School.”
