Anonymous "Hacktivist" Jeremy Hammond Sentence to 10 Years in Jail

A hacker associated with the online group Anonymous, Jeremy Hammond, was sentenced to ten years in jail on Nov. 15 for his role in the December 2011 data hacking of Stratfor Strategic Forecasting, a global intelligence firm.

The so-called "hacktivist" was sentenced by Chief US District Judge Loretta A. Preska in Manhattan Federal Court. In May 2013 he had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. This reduced the maximum sentence from 35 years to ten.

Hammond, along with several other members of the group Anonymous, hacked into the files of the global firm and downloaded more than five million emails between the intelligence firm and their various clients. These emails were published in the Global Intelligence Files section of Wikileaks. The leaked emails revealed that Stratfor was hired by many different companies and government agencies to gather information about activist communities and even infiltrate these activist groups. Anonymous published over 800,000 emails addresses along with 75,000 unencrypted credit card numbers on to the web, which lead to $700,000 worth of unauthorized charges on to these credit cards.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Hammond, 28, remained defiant and believes he is still in the right when it comes to hacktivists:

"Yes I broke the law, but I believe sometimes laws must be broken in order to make room for change...I still believe in hacktivism as a form of civil disobedience."

However, while the hacker's views are shared by many people throughout the world, US Attorney Preet Bharara revealed in a statement that the United States government does not feel the same way when it comes to cyber crimes of this magnitude:

"While he billed himself as fighting for an anarchist cause, in reality, Jeremy Hammond caused personal and financial chaos for individuals whose identities and money he took and for companies whose businesses he decided he didn't like...He was nothing more than a repeat offender cybercriminal who thought that because of his computer savvy he was above the law that binds and protects all of us."

While the case of Jeremy Hammond is the latest case of debate of whether breaking the law is justified to expose potential wrongdoings, nonetheless the young man is facing a decade behind bars for his role in the crime. It will be interesting to see if this latest sentencing curbs cypercrimes of similar nature or if revenge hacking attacks are launched.