A Texas resident was recently charged with participating in a series of hacks that targeted government and law-enforcement websites under the banner of an Anonymous offshoot known as “CabinCr3w.”
Higinio O. Ochoa III, a 30-year-old Linux administrator from Galveston, allegedly infiltrated sites operated by at least four law-enforcement groups – and subsequently posted phone numbers, addresses, and other personal information belonging to police officers.
According to documents obtained by Ars Technica, Ochoa – aka higochoa and w0rmer – also stands accused of hacking into the County of Houston’s website in Alabama, which required city workers to rebuild the site from a backup disk.
“The attacker created fake events on their online calendar, posted images representing Anonymous and CabinCr3w, deleted all the administrator accounts except the one created by the attacker,” FBI Special Agent Scott Jensen wrote in a March 15 affidavit filed in support of the charges. ”All of this was accomplished by gaining unauthorized administrator access to the site’s control panel.”
Ochoa – who remains free on $50,000 bail – has not yet entered a plea in the case. However, higochoa recently disclosed details of his CabinCr3w activities and subsequent arrest in a lengthy Pastebin post.
“I did not ‘join’ this movement out of personal interest, I did not get paid to hack these sites, I simply took donations in case any supporters of this cause could donate towards my protection. In fact my main source of currency was ‘bit coins’ as the american dollar continues to drop in value. When I abandoned my mask i was fully aware of the consequences and know full well that someday I may in fact have to pay for my activism,” Ochoa wrote.
“My life from that day on was about protecting my fellow activist, not myself, which is why I stand here today and you do-not. I was asked by the agents if I thought other anon’s caught would feel the same as I do, and if I expected others to not, rat me out. To this I responded: ‘Of course not.’ But the problem I see in the world today is apathy and a willingness to protect oneself over others, something I myself took a personal oath to not follow. Americans and the world no less, need to wake up, turn off their T.V’s and notice a real change is coming.”
Ochoa also attempted to explain what he hoped to accomplish by engaging in Anonymous hacktivism and “speaking out.”
“As our nation continues to grow more worldly and Anonymous continues to spread our reach, our country will continue to wage war. This time however it will not only be our civil rights but our human rights. This country, one based on a failing system, not only continues to mis-manage our rights and resources but our internal infrastructure. If there was ever a time when helping others was needed, yesterday was that time,” he opined.
“As millions go homeless, many millions of houses lay vacant, as millions go hungry, tons of food go wasted. Let me stand here, as many have before , and call out to you to request not that you vote a certain way, or even risk what you currently have as I have done, but to educate yourselves and reach out to those unconditionally who truly need help so that when you stand in need, that same help will be available to you. Thank you for reading. Yours in human evolution. Hig/w0rmer.”
