Ryan Cleary, 21; Jake Davis, 20; Mustafa al-Bassam, 18; and Ryan Ackroyd, 26, all associated with the LulzSec hackers group, were sentenced following a two-day hearing at Southwark Crown Court.
All four pleaded guilty to a variety of hacking-related charges. Organisations targeted by the group included games maker EA, Sony Pictures, News International and the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).
Presiding Judge Deborah Taylor sentenced Ackroyd to 30 months in jail, serving at least half the term, and Davis to 24 months in a Young Offenders institution, serving at least a year. Bassam was handed a suspended sentence of 20 months and Cleary was ordered to serve half of a 32-month sentence.
Judge Taylor noted: "You sought to amuse yourselves and wreaked destruction and havoc. You cared nothing about the privacy of others, but kept your own identities hidden."
A lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service, Andrew Hadik, commented: "The harm they caused was foreseeable, extensive and intended.
"Indeed, they boasted of how clever they were with a complete disregard for the impact their actions had on real people’s lives. This case should serve as a warning to other cybercriminals that they are not invincible."
Prosecutor Sandip Patel added: "It’s clear from the evidence that they intended to achieve extensive national and international notoriety and publicity.
"This is not about young immature men messing about. They are at the cutting edge of a contemporary and emerging species of criminal offender known as a cybercriminal."
LulzSec’s name is derived from a combination of the acronym Lol, meaning laugh out loud, and security.
Members of the group could face extradition to the US as US law enforcement agencies have lodged indictments against them.
