 A former Anonymous hacker who faced 26 years in prison for staging global cyber-attacks, was set free by a judge who credited him with helping prevent at least 300 such intrusions, including one on the U.S. Senate website. Judge Loretta Preska determined that the seven months Monsegur, known by his hacker handle “Sabu,” spent in pre-trial detention was sufficient punishment for one of the most active hackers in the Anonymous collective and the vocal leader of the splinter group Lulzsec. “That personal characteristic of turning on a dime to doing good, not evil, is the most important factor in this sentencing.” 
 
 Monsegur, a hulking man with a close-trimmed beard and hair, appeared in court wearing a billowing black shirt, and told the court he is no longer the Sabu who had brazenly led Lulzsec on dozens of hacking campaigns and spouted revolutionary rhetoric from a highly active Twitter feed . “You’ve done as much as any human being can do in terms of helping the government to make up for past wrongs and to avert other damage to probably millions of people.” 
 
 Monsegur, 30, who used the online name Sabu, belonged to the hacker groups Internet Feds and LulzSec, an offshoot of Anonymous. The potential targets he was credited with helping to protect include the water supply of “a major American city” and the supply chain of a foreign energy firm. “I’m not the same person you saw here three years ago.” 
 
 The judge also considered the harassment and threats Monsegur and his family have faced since he was publicly identified as a federal informant in March, 2012. Back Doors 
 
 “It’s difficult to quantify Mr. Monsegur’s cooperation,” said Pastore, adding that the defendant helped identify “back doors” or weaknesses in computer systems in corporations and foreign governments. Evidence Monsegur helped develop led to the prosecution of at least five hackers, including Jeremy Hammond, who was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison by Preska for an attack on the intelligence firm Strategic Forecasting Inc., or Stratfor, and for interfering with eight other computer systems. Philip Weinstein, Monsegur’s lawyer, said after today’s sentencing that the hacker is still helping the government with other cases. Monsegur’s sentence won’t end the controversy around the role he’s played on both sides of a three-year hacking saga. Hector Monsegur spent the last three years as a model law enforcement informant, quietly drawing out his fellow hackers and directly aiding in the arrest of members of the LulzSec hacking crew and Anonymous hacker Jeremy Hammond.
– Hector Monsegur might well be the most hated man in the world of hackers these days, but he's also a free man as a result. A judge today let the 30-year-old Monsegur off with 7 months' time served, even though he faced up to 26 years in prison, reports Bloomberg. The reason is that the former leader of the Anonymous offshoot LulzSec immediately turned into an informant upon his arrest three years ago. Prosecutors say he then worked "around the clock" as a mole, collaborating with fellow hackers and turning over the information to the feds. “I assure you I will not be back in this courtroom,” Monsegur, aka Sabu, told the judge today. “I’m not the same person you saw three years ago.” The judge credited his "extraordinary assistance" with helping stop 300 hacks, adding that the threats and public harassment he has faced since becoming an informer played a role in the light sentence, reports Wired. Monsegur helped the feds bust high-profile US hacker Jeremy Hammond, though Hammond made clear at his sentencing that he felt both Monsegur and the government entrapped him. On Twitter today, Anonymous is asking people to show support for Hammond.