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| This appears to be the "Real" LulzSec Topiary, as seen in an Anonymous press interview. (Source: YouTube) | |
The
Daily Tech Website says that British Police Duped by LulzSec Into Arresting the Wrong Guy .
If the arrested man was indeed LulzSec's Topiary, he couldn't have picked a much more perfect lair. Much like a James Bond villain, the alleged hacker was arrested on a remote island -- one of the Shetland Islands, off the north coast of Britain's mainland.
Police transported the 19-year-old suspect to central-London, for interrogation. Police say they're also searching for a 17-year-old related to the case in Lincolnshire, a Northeastern province of the mainland.
Police characterized the arrest as a "pre-planned, intelligence-led operation".
Topiary's Twitter account fell silent about a week ago, and many posts were deleted from it. The sole remaining post, dating to July 21, played Medger Ever's iconic quote "You can not kill an idea", stating, "You cannot arrest an idea."
To add to the picture, LulzSecurity's website has been down on and off for the last few weeks, being on life-support thanks to a CloudFlare cached copy.
Given these details and the UK government's insistence they had nabbed their man, the media jumped into a fervor. And the public gobbled it up, as they had long expected LulzSec's brass to be apprehended and redirected towards a local penitentiary.They write:
Topiary aka Warpstonelord aka Hombre de Mundo aka Tomtenisse
Daniel Ackerman Sandberg
Birthday 13 August 1988
Location Uppsala, Sweden
Twitter - http://twitter.com/atopiary" rel="nofollow
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/ManofWorld" rel="nofollow
Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/user/
warpstonelord
Skype - x-tomtenisse-x , Doxiary
Digg - http://digg.com/warpstonelord
Forums
http://www.cubed3.com/
journal/Hombre%20de%20Mundo
http://z12.invisionfree.com/
WHFBhelp/index.php?showuser=2
http://www.zeldauniverse.net/forums
/members/9225
-hombre-de-mundo-page110.html
So which is the true Topiary? The arrest 19 year old Scotland native? Or the at-large 23 year old Swede? There's more to come.
Chat Logs Indicate UK Police Are Being DupedThe UK's police are desperate for some good press. Amid the resignation of London's police chief and
allegations of bribery, the arrest could be a huge victory for the department. In recent years the police have been battered by a long string of embarrassments, including an invasive camera scheme, which
failed to reduce crime rates.
A series of chat logs
published by anti-
LulzSec American "hacktivist", th3j35t3r ("The Jester") indicate, however, that the department may be enmeshed in another debacle.
The logs are as follows:
[removed]: S'up Daniel
Topiary: s'appening [removed]
[removed]: You OK?
Topiary: could be better, you seen the pdf table thing with all the names I take it?
[removed]: Saw that, but you seen the thing today?
Topiary: bro I've been playing it off since fakegregg said something about Zelda
[removed]: ah, well, you should keep low man
Topiary: I can't at this point, I need to just straight up deny it 100% and flaunt it everywhere
Topiary: but I trust you, you know how it is
Topiary: if I go hide then people will assume the dox are right Topiary: so I'll just act like they failed hard [removed]: True that - so you need to make a big show of disproving them
Topiary: yeah well, this is my plan:
Topiary: (as you know I stole this nickname from a troll last December, didn't work out so well) Topiary: I'll just keep denying it until they try to go after the troll
Topiary: then they'll think that's me and harass him
[removed]: then he harasses back?
Topiary: yeah but if I deny my real dox enough, people will go looking for other dox
Topiary: then nobody will believe I'm me
Topiary: and all you bastards told me my Brit voice was good, damnit Topiary: did they get voice recognition?
[removed]: well when you talk the Swedish accent comes out a bit [removed]: but not for a couple of minutes
Topiary: these faggots aren't hitting the UK ni$%*r Topiary Topiary: why aren't they?
Topiary: I'm hoping someone will go after him and think it's me, then I'll act all scared etc
[removed]: then boom - you drop all the heat on him
Topiary: ANYTHING to divert attention from that fuckign nameshub Topiary: I'm assuming they put that to Feds
Topiary: so I might be raided soon
Topiary: fucking shit
Topiary: goddamnit
[removed]: that "nameshub" thing exposed a few peopl
[removed]: have the feds any jurisdiction in Sweden?
[removed]: ohwait
[removed]: shit :/
Topiary: don't know but I'm shitting bricks
Topiary: so I don't know what to do
Topiary: so I'm just playing it off
Topiary: "Who the fuck is Daniel Sandberg?", the whole story
[removed]: well, hopefully someone will go after the troll you stole the name off Topiary: they should have already Topiary: hoping so dude Topiary: because I don't want this shit
Topiary: but yeah I deleted everything recently
[removed]: rm -rf
[removed]: fuck, I hope you DBAN-ed
Topiary: I'd like to make it to the end of the month, how long do they take to raid?
Topiary: better not hit me on April fool's day
Topiary: but yeah maybe they'll just think backtrace is a joke and not go after me
[removed]: Well shit, how long before they raided no that time?
Topiary: not very long
Topiary: bro why haven't you done what I did?
Topiary: find some network and steal someone's nick
Topiary: like someone you don't like
Topiary: then do illegal shit
Topiary: and they hit them instead
Topiary: you're using a real name
[removed]: never thought to do it...
[removed]: I'd advise taking a hammer to your drives though
Topiary: wouldn't that look suspicious if they come?
Topiary: maybe things just have to be normal
[removed]: hmmmm. use a guttmann pass - you know, like DBAN on crack?
[removed]: then reload windows or something
Topiary: yeah
Topiary: just hoping that they'll take the bait Topiary: the fucker has been using Topiary for like a year Topiary: trolling everyone Topiary: for no reason Topiary: so now we troll him, hope he's getting raidedTopiary: well whatever, we both discussed this like last year
Topiary: so...
Topiary: then I'll stop my twitter and everything
Topiary: but it isn't FUCKING WORKING
[removed]: make it look like they got the right guy
Topiary: yup
[removed]: it is also
Topiary: fucking tired of people adding me on Facebook
Topiary: to be honest I'm just gonna continue the Zelda casts as normal
Topiary: it would look REALLY weird if they stopped
[removed]: it shouldnt fsck with your normal life
Topiary: yeah, right, right
Topiary: agreed
Topiary: so that's what I'll do
Topiary: just keep it cool and carry on with it
[removed]: frame up this damn trollfaggot, and "carry on"
Topiary: hope it blows over and they start doxing Ireland fag or Scotland fag or wherever the fuck UK part he's from Topiary: anyway I trust you so yeah
Topiary: we can keep this between us
[removed]: Wont say a word bro
[removed]: just take care
Topiary: okay gotta go
Topiary: thanks for advic
[removed]: bye!
If the above commentary is to be believed it sounds like the UK police has fallen hook line and sinker for
LulzSec and Topiary's ploy. And so did the mass media [
1][
2].
Not the First Time the Police and Media Were Duped
Back on June 6, the internet lit up with reports of a LulzSec "arrest". Only, it turns out the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations appears to have been duped into arresting Robert Cavenaugh ("XYZ"), a ex-Anonymous youth who the group had doxed after he published private server logs from the group.
Anonymous had it out for Mr. Cavenaugh, and thus he made the perfect fall guy for them. And best of all he had nothing to do with LulzSec, ostensibly.
Not long after the arrest of "Chippy1337" (real name: Ryan Cleary), yet another supposed LulzSec "official" was reported. Mr. Cleary was also former Anonymous and had helped "XYZ" publish the server logs -- and like Mr. Cavenaugh, was doxed. Now, Mr. Cleary remained close to some in Anonymous and was indeed serving as a spokesperson for LulzSec. But reportedly he had nothing to do with the actual operations.
How convenient, it seems. The U.S. law enforcement is hungry to catch a LulzSec hacker and a low-ranking spokesperson who ran afoul of LulzSec's parent group (Anonymous) gets handed into their lap.
In the end it appears Scotland's "Topiary" met a similar fate as "Chippy1337" and "XYZ" -- arrested by authorities who were led down the wrong trail by the clever members of Anonymous and LulzSec.
Supporting evidence of this conclusion can be found in several videos [1][2][3] in which Topiary speaks in Swedish or with a Swedish accent (while a member of Anonymous). Given this and the chat logs, it appears that police have the wrong guy.
Of course, the possibility remains that the chat log comments were just misdirection. But there's too many clues pointing in the direction of Sweden to ignore that possibility, at this point. 
