French hacker and alleged Anonymous member arrested after bragging on TV

How stupid can you be?

A French hacker has bragged about hacking into the systems of a big government contractor on France 2 national TV. in a television program called "Complément d'enquête" (Further investigation).

He said, and demonstrated that he has gained access to computers belonging to the French Army and Thales Group, a French company that provides information systems and services for the aerospace, defense, and security markets.

He also said he sells and uses credit card and bank account data to buy for himself and others various things.

Thales took immediate measures. It said that he had stolen confidential information from its networks and asked for a formal investigation.

How the French police tracked down the hacker - who was presented as "Carl" during the television programme - is unknown.

The producers of the program say that they respect the anonymity of their sources and that they haven't shared his identity with the police. In fact, they claim they did not know that an investigation was ongoing.

"Carl" was arrested on April 7 in Paris. The police discovered on his computer a large number of credit card and bank account data.

He remains in custody until the hearing, and he's facing a various set of charges: data theft, unauthorized access,  and organized fraud.

The interesting thing is that the program was actually focusing on the new type of hacker - the hacktivist, and "Carl" claimed he was a member of Anonymous. Whether that's true is hard to determine since there is no list of Anonymous members. The group is not called Anonymous for nothing.