14 DAY TRIAL // Hector "Sabu" Monsegur is the newest full-time employee of Rhino Security Labs (RSL), a Seattle-based pen-testing and cyber-security firm.
Monsegur will serve as team lead for RSL's Assessment and Research Team, where he's already been working as a private contractor for the past months.
According to an RSL blog post, "Hector has focused on the most technically challenging security engagements, developing zeroday vulnerabilities and other innovative solutions."
The company says that much of this work is already under way, and they expect to publicly disclose Monsegur's work by the end of the year.
Monsegur created and then took down LulzSec
Monsegur is a controversial figure on the cyber-security scene due to his role in the takedown of the LulzSec hacking crew, Anonymous' most notorious sub-division, which he founded and led.
FBI secretly arrested Monsegur in 2011, and he served as an informant for over ten months, helping the agency track down several of his fellow LulzSec members and other Anonymous hacktivists.
Because of his cooperation, a judge sentenced him to seven months in prison already served, and Monsegur walked out of the court a free man but was prohibited from going online for two years.
From LulsZec to bug bounties to penetration testing
The Internet ban he received was a blessing in disguise, as he became Anonymous' number one enemy, being doxxed several times, and sabotaged from speaking at several security conferences.
Monsegur rebuilt his life after the sentencing and choose to enter the security field as a freelance researcher, but was a pariah for several years. Because he hacked several security firms while part of LulzSec, many companies avoided working with him.
Time heals all wounds, and as Monsegur's actions started to fade and enter infosec lore, he eventually began participating in bug bounty programs and made a name for himself as a talented researcher, eventually landing with Rhino Security Labs, first as a contractor, and now as a full-time employee.
LulzSec member tFlow also working as a security researcher
Monsegur is not the first LulzSec member that turned from black hat to white hat. Earlier this year, Mustafa Al-Bassam, founding and former member of LulzSec under the alias tFlow, joined UK-based online payments firm Secure Trading on a security adviser role.
Al-Bassam has already made an impact on the infosec community, helping expose some of GCHQ's cyber-espionage practices, and discovering the real capabilities of an NSA hacking tool named BENIGNCERTAIN.