Two Dudes Arrested for Pretending to Be 16-Year-Old Girl Hacker
Surprise: A 16-year-old female hacking prodigy might actually be a couple of dudes. Two 20-something British men were arrested today under suspicion of being the mysterious LulzSec and Anonymous mastermind "Kayla."
According to the Associated Press, two men, 20 and 24-years-old, were arrested in England. Sky reporter Mark White tweets that the arrests "centres on alleged offences conducted under the online identity 'Kayla'".
Kayla is a longtime member of the hacktivist group Anonymous, and was one of the leaders of the now-defunct hacking group LulzSec. She was instrumental in the spectacular hack of the security firm HBGary, tricking an administrator into handing over his password; and, in a role near to our hearts, came up with the great idea to hack Gawker. In an interview with Forbes in March, Kayla claimed to be a 16-year-old female hacker, who by the age of 14 could "fully program C and x87." There was little evidence of her actually being a 16-year-old girl, other than that her smiley face-inflected chat style and the bubbly bursts from her apparent Twitter account, @lolspoon, resembled that of a Japanese schoolgirl.
The giggly teen Kayla has become a sensation in a digital underground that's so thoroughly male. No doubt many will be bummed to discover that one of the few demographically interesting high-profile hackers turned out to be not just one but two stereotypically 20-something guys digitally cross-dressing. Just arrest every pale teenage boy from age 16-26 with a computer and get it over with!