Topiary is the 18 year old hacker/ hacktivist who was recently arrested and charged with attacking several high profile websites. He is the figurehead of the infamous LulzSec collective, and member of the wider Anonymous hacking group – aka the guys who hacked The Suns website at the height of the News International scandal and falsely reported Ruport Murdoch’s death.As well as this attack the group also claim to have previously hacked other high profile sites, such as Nato, Paypal and FBI related site, The US Congress. 

SS: Besides the inconvenience caused by downing websites, what are the main goals of Anonymous’ work?

T: Gaining attention for WikiLeaks, inspiring people to get to know their governments more and to really start thinking instead of slouching along apathetically.

SS: How is the decision made on which sites you attack?
T: We ‘punish’ our targets depending on what we believe they deserve. PayPal, Visa and Mastercard did not deserve to be hacked; sure, they were cowardly in turning away from WikiLeaks (Paypal suspended the account used by Wikileaks for fundraising), but they’re not oppressing their customers, abusing them, or lying. We make note when something we don’t approve of happens. I guess targets are chosen when interest sparks and Anonymous approves via general consensus.

SS: So there is no hierarchy whatsoever?
T: There can be considered departments, in the loosest sense of the word. The press department, the design department, the deface department, the writers, the lurkers, the web hosts, IRC hosts. We don’t even like splitting it up like this, we don’t publicise this… it’s just “Anonymous”.

SS: Will that change if the targets become bigger and more prepared?
T: I think the way we work now is effective in getting things done. The idea is sparked, Facebook/Twitter Anonymous account holders spread the word, designers make the posters, defacers map up our targets and prepare for attack, lurkers lurk, writers write, we gain support, channel links are given, and things go from there. It’s really a very smooth and leaderless process where nobody is pointed out as an individual… The idea is of a swarm.

twitter.com/LulzSec

Words: Jayga Rayn