"Bitcoin Barron", the 20-year old hacker behind a series of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against small towns in the US, has been arrested in Arizona.
Randall Charles Tucker is charged with computer tampering. He repeatedly threatened and attacked towns whose governments, he felt, were acting unjustly. His main claim was to protect the innocent from police brutality. One of the more infamous incidents include an attack on the Arizona government's website. Prior to the attack, he threatened via video and e-mail:
"Hello, My name is Bitcoin Baron and I have something for you. I’m currently attacking mesaaz.gov for their incompetence in the fact that they didn’t keep Ryan Giroux in prison for life for his other felonies, but instead he was out and able to kill someone and injure others."
In another case, he attacked a Madison, Wisconsin news station for crediting the hacker group Anonymous with another attack instead of him.
In another recent attack against Moore, Oklahoma, he threatened to shut down city websites and demanded 100 bitcoins (now worth roughly $21,700). He targeted the city after a man died in police custody. When challenged in a recent interview about what his demand for money will accomplish, he claimed that he just wanted to show the site's vulnerability. He has also claimed to have gotten his hands on social security numbers and credit card information. The city refused to pay the ransom.
Previously, as part of Anonymous, he engaged in the hacking of gaming sites.
