Residence London, United Kingdom Criminal charge Hacker | Name Mustafa Al-Bassam Known for Founder of LulzSec Organization LulzSec, Anonymous | |
Born January 1995 Iraq Occupation Software Engineer, Political Activist, College student Similar People Ryan Ackroyd, Topiary, Hector Monsegur, Gabriella Coleman, Jeremy Hammond | ||
Other names Tflow, Tobias Glockner | ||
Mustafa al bassam richard tynan how to destroy a laptop with top secrets
Mustafa Al-Bassam (born January 1995), alias Tflow, is a former black hat hacker who was one of the six core members of LulzSec during its 50-day spree of attacks in the spring of 2011. At the time of the so-called "50 Days of Lulz", Al-Bassam was 16 years old and living as a student in London. He is one of the affiliates of the online association of "hacktivists" known as Anonymous that targeted HBGary and HBGaryFederal in February 2011, having done much of the actual hacking work. Tflow also managed the LulzSecurity.com website during its short run in June 2011. He is currently a technology volunteer with Privacy International in London.
Contents
- Mustafa al bassam richard tynan how to destroy a laptop with top secrets
- Internet dependence and what it means for your privacy mustafa al bassam tedxkingscollegelondon
- Rise to prominence
- Arrest and legal proceedings
- Career
- References
Internet dependence and what it means for your privacy mustafa al bassam tedxkingscollegelondon
Rise to prominence
In February 2011, HBGaryFederal CEO Aaron Barr claimed he was going to expose the identities of hackers from Anonymous. Mustafa Al-Bassam, going by "Tflow" at the time, came across this information and shared it with co-conspirators Jake Davis, Hector Monsegur and others. Chatlogs from the AnonOps IRC network demonstrate Tflow's integral role in the operation which hacked the servers of HBGaryFederal, defaced its homepage and leaked more than 70,000 private company emails, doing millions of dollars worth of damage. During the next several months, Tflow and fellow hacktivists Topiary, Sabu, Kayla, Pwnsauce and Palladium began searching for vulnerabilities in high level computer systems. During this time, Tflow and Topiary are credited with inventing the name "LulzSec" for the hacking group they were forming.
Arrest and legal proceedings
On July 20, 2011, it was announced on Fox News and other press outlets that London's Metropolitan Police had arrested a 16-year-old student in London who was alleged to have used the nickname "Tflow" in a series of high-profile attacks on fox.com, the FBI affiliate "Infragard", PBS and Sony. For legal reasons, his name could not be disclosed for nearly two more years. On April 9, 2013, Tflow's full name was revealed along with his picture on multiple news outlets throughout the Internet. He pleaded guilty to computer misuse and received a 20-month suspended sentence with 500 hours of unpaid community service work. He is currently free and back on the Internet after a nearly two year Internet ban imposed by police.
Career
After serving his sentence Mustafa Al-Bassam started to study Computer Science at King's College London. In 2016 he was listed by Forbes as one of the 30 Under 30 in the Technology section. By that time he was working on projects focused on transparency, shedding light on government deployed malware.