LulzSec 'hacktivists' admit to attacking internet sites

Two members of the "hacktivist" group LulzSec have admitted attacking websites, including those belonging to the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the CIA and Rupert Murdoch's News International.

Ryan Cleary, 19, and Jake Davis, 18, were in court in London yesterday to hear the charges. They also admitted to attacks on websites belonging to Nintendo, the FBI contractor InfraGard and the NHS but denied two other charges relating to posting online unlawfully obtained material in the belief that it could be used to commit crimes.

Two other defendants, 25-year-old Ryan Ackroyd and a 17-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons, each faced two charges relating to posting confidential data online. Both denied the charges.

The four are accused of involvement in a series of so-called "hacktivist" attacks over a period of more than one year, in which they allegedly flooded websites with requests in order to make them crash.

It was revealed in March this year that the group's high-profile leader, Hector Xavier Monsegur, 28, was working as an informant for the FBI for more than six months.

A trial has been scheduled for 8 April next year.