Hidemyass have received concerns by users that their VPN service was utilized by a member or members of the hacktivist group ‘lulzsec’. Lulzsec have been ALLEGEDLY been responsible for a number of high profile cases such as:
- The hacking of the Sony Playstation network which compromised the names, passwords, e-mail addresses, home addresses and dates of birth of thousands of people.
- The DDOS attack which knocked the British governments SOCA (Serious Organised Crime Agency) and other government websites offline.
- The release of various sensitive and confidential information from companies such as AT&T, Viacom, Disney, EMI, NBC Universal, and AOL.
- Gaining access to NATO servers and releasing documents regarding the communication and information services (CIS) in Kosovo.
- The defacement of British newspaper websites The Sun & The Times.
- The hacking of 77 law enforcement sheriff websites.
The logs maintained by HideMyAss.com, in addition to other evidence, has led to the arrest of another LulzSec member in Arizona, The Tech Herald has learned. Cody Kretsinger, 23, allegedly used the anonymity service during his role in the attack on Sony Pictures.
Hidemyass inlcuded this in their blog:
"It first came to our attention when leaked IRC chat logs were released, in these logs participants discussed about various VPN services they use, and it became apparent that some members were using our service. No action was taken, after all there was no evidence to suggest wrongdoing and nothing to identify which accounts with us they were using. At a later date it came as no surprise to have received a court order asking for information relating to an account associated with some or all of the above cases. As stated in our terms of service and privacy policy our service is not to be used for illegal activity, and as a legitimate company we will cooperate with law enforcement if we receive a court order (equivalent of a subpoena in the US).
Our VPN service and VPN services in general are not designed to be used to commit illegal activity. It is very naive to think that by paying a subscription fee to a VPN service you are free to break the law without any consequences. This includes certain hardcore privacy services which claim you will never be identified, these types of services that do not cooperate are more likely to have their entire VPN network monitored and tapped by law enforcement, thus affecting all legitimate customers."
According to a CBS News report, "Commander X" told their reporter that he had no fear about being caught:"We're not going to turn ourselves in. They can come and get us is what I say. Bring it on. Until then, we run... We will remain free and at liberty and at large for as long as we can, and when the time comes that each and every one of us eventually will be brought to justice, we will hold our head high in any court of law and we will defend our actions."
He faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison if convicted. Government prosecutors want him moved to Los Angeles, where Sony Pictures' computer system is located and where the case against him has been filed.
