Lizard Squad investigation leads to two teens being charged

A number of teens have been arrested after being found associated with the hacking group ‘Lizard Squad’ following the attacks PlayStation Network and Xbox Live during the holidays two years ago (and at some point last year).

Two more teens have been arrested, both 19-years-old, after being found to be alleged to be core members of the hacking groups Lizard Squad and PoodleCorp. The duo are being charged with credit card theft and operating so-called “booter”or “stresser” services that allowed paying customers to launch powerful attacks designed to knock Web sites offline.

The complaint (PDF) filed by the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, detailed at least one incarnation of the attack-for-hire services included a section where customers could purchase stolen credit cards. There were even details that revealed the duo helped facilitate hourly programmed harassment via phone calls.

The hackers, Zachary Buchta of Fallston, Md., and Bradley Jan Willem Van Rooy of Leiden, the Netherlands, were charged with conspiring to cause damage to protected computers by Federal Investigators.

According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, Buchta, “who used the online screen names ‘@fbiarelosers,’ ‘pein,’ ‘xotehpoodle’ and ‘lizard,’ and van Rooy, who used the names ‘Uchiha,’ ‘@UchihaLS,’ ‘dragon’ and ‘fox,’ also conspired with other members of Lizard Squad to operate websites that provided cyber-attack-for-hire services, facilitating thousands of denial-of-service attacks, and to traffic stolen payment card account information for thousands of victims.”

Buchta was arrested last month in Maryland and was set to make an initial court appearance in Chicago on Wednesday. Authorities in the Netherlands arrested van Rooy last month, he is still in custody and had yet to appear in court (as far as we know). The conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison.

[KrebsonSecurity]