Ryan Ackroyd
More info
- Alias
- Kayla
- Group
- LulzSec
- Sentenced
- 2013, 30 months (UK)
LulzSec's most technically capable member posed as a teenage girl — and turned out to be a former British soldier.
As "Kayla", Ackroyd took part in Anonymous's break-in at HBGary Federal in early 2011 and then became one of LulzSec's core members. That year the group leaked data from Sony, PBS and US government sites among others, frequently through SQL injection in neglected web apps.
The group came apart within a year, partly because Hector Monsegur ("Sabu") had been quietly cooperating with the FBI. Ackroyd was arrested in 2011, as were Jake Davis and Mustafa Al-Bassam, and pleaded guilty before his 2013 sentencing. The Kayla persona had been convincing enough to fool fellow members and journalists alike.