Posted 04/06/2012 at 7:30am | by Paul Lilly



Cody Kretsinger, the 24-year-old who hid behind his online handle "Recursion," may end up facing jail time for his participation in an organized security breach of Sony Pictures Entertainment last year. There's no need to call Kretsinger an "alleged" hacker, he readily admitted his role in the hack attack, and it's now up to a California judge to decide how much time he'll spend behind bars, if any.

"I joined LulzSec, your honor, at which point we gained access to the Sony Pictures website," Kretsinger stated after his guilty plea, according to Reuters.

Kretsinger sang like a canary in court, testifying that he handed over stolen information obtained from Sony to other LulzSec members, which then ended up being plastered all over the Web, including Twitter and Pastebin. According to Reuters, he was calm throughout the proceeding.

Well known LulzSec members "Sabu" (leader of the group whose real name is Hector Xavier Monsegur) and "Topiary" were also involved in the data breach, according to U.S. Attorney Eric Vandevelde. Monsegur, who previously pleaded guilty to hacking charges, cut a deal with the FBI to rat out his fellow hackers. It's unclear if Kretsinger's plea agreement also includes leniency in exchange for incriminating information. If not, he faces a maximum sentence of 15 years and could have to pay back damages, of which Sony claims is more than $600,000.