14 DAY TRIAL // The UK Metropolitan Police Service announced the arrest of a 18-year-old man who is believed to be a spokesperson for both Anonymous and LulzSec.
The hacktivist, known online as "Topiary," was arrested in Shetland Islands, Scotland, following an investigation by the Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU). He was transported to London.
Police officers also served a search warrant at an address in Lincolnshire and questioned a 17-year-old male in connection with the case.
"Today’s operation is linked to PCeU’s ongoing investigation into network intrusions and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against a number of international business and intelligence agencies by what is believed to be the same hacking group," the Met said.
Topiary is a long time Anonymous member and part of what some people have called "the cabal," a group of active and influential users within the hacktivist collective. He openly admitted to operating the @LulzSec Twitter account.
Topiary's mostly has a spokesperson role within LulzSec and Anonymous and is believed to have authored many of the press releases issued by the two groups.
If the police does indeed have Topiary in their custody, it is a serious blow to the hacktivist movement. However, his limited role might help him get away with only conspiracy charges.
Last Friday, Topiary tweeted from his personal account that "you cannot arrest an idea." As LulzSec spokesperson he repeatedly stated that the group's members don't fear being arrested.
"We are not scared any more. Your threats to arrest us are meaningless to us as you cannot arrest an idea. Any attempt to do so will make your citizens more angry until they will roar in one gigantic choir," the two hacktivist groups wrote in an open letter to law enforcement agencies last week.
Another individual affiliated with LulzSec and known online as tflow is believed to have been arrested in UK this month, however, the hacking outfit claimed all of its core members are free.
Topiary was previously identified by rival groups as one Daniel Ackerman Sandberg from Sweden. This information conflicts with the location given by UK authorities. Neither Anonymous nor LulzSec have confirmed Topiary's arrest so far.