LulzSec Leader's Downfall? Xbox

Fellow gamer apparently revealed identity of Topiary
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 16, 2011 6:17 PM CDT
LulzSec Leader's Downfall? Xbox
18 year-old Jake Davis leaves Westminster Magistrates Court, London, after being granted bail on Aug. 1.   (AP Photo/ Anthony Devlin/PA)

So how did UK authorities manage to track down and arrest the secretive LulzSec leader known as Topiary last month? It might have been a fellow Xbox gamer who ratted on him, according to Adrian Chen at Gawker. It seems Topiary—who was revealed to be 18-year-old Jake Davis from Scotland's Shetland Islands—played Xbox a lot and also talked a lot, and a fellow Xbox'er finally put it all together.

Another LulzSec leader suggested as much in a newly released chat log with a rival hacker, one in which they accuse each other of being federal snitches. It's a convoluted tale but also "a peek into the ultra-paranoid state a spate of arrests have thrown Anonymous hackers into," writs Chen. "Where reality bends into layer upon layer of snitches and counter-snitches, but the real informant might be some kid who's pissed you keep killing him in Modern Warfare 2." Click for the full post. (More Topiary stories.)

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