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Alleged Hacker Behind John Brennan Email Breach: ‘I Don’t Want To Go To Jail’

The teenage hacker says he doesn’t regret breach, but is “sorta” worried.
Image: t81/Shutterstock

It's been five days since a group of teenage hackers only known as "Crackas With Attitude" (CWA) claimed to have broken into the email account of CIA Director John Brennan. The hackers initially boasted about their feat on Twitter, exposing some US intelligence members personal information, before getting their accounts suspended.

Since then, the hackers have been relatively quiet, while they passed some documents allegedly found inside Brennan's AOL email account to WikiLeaks. One of CWA's members, nicknamed Cracka, said he wasn't too worried, despite all the media's attention.

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"I'm not here for fame," he told Motherboard in an online chat. "I'm here to get my message out."

Cracka, who claimed to be 13 (without providing any evidence), said that they did it "for freepalestine and freegaza," and to show the US government that "we and a lot of other people aren't messing around anymore, we've had enough of them funding Israel and killing innocent people."

The government "are pretty mad lol."

When we asked whether he was worried, he said: "Sorta," and also added that "there's nothing I can do though lol." Cracka, however, said that he is "probably" going to be "tortured," because the government "are pretty mad lol."

But Cracka also said he believed he has done "enough" to protect his identity and not get caught. "If I haven't done enough then I would be in a cell [right now], though I know I'll be raided eventually/soon."

He said he doesn't regret hacking into Brennan's email, nor publishing the personal details, including social security numbers, of his family members.

"They deserved it for funding Israel," he said. "They were probably losers that loved the government anyways."

"They were probably losers that loved the government anyways."

The FBI confirmed on Wednesday that the Bureau "is investigating this matter jointly with the US Secret Service," but given that this is an "ongoing investigation," they declined to give out any further comments.

Cracka, who also spoke to The Daily Dot on Thursday, said that he is still going to school and that he hasn't told his parents or his school friends about this, except for his classmate and fellow CWA hacker "cubed."

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When I asked him what he was going to do now, he said, "Probably chill."

UPDATE, 10/23/2015, 4:29 p.m. ET: On Friday, Cracka and I kept chatting after he came out of math class.

Cracka told me he's not that into math, and he doesn't have a favorite subject. When I asked him what he wants to do when he grows up, he said: "Something to do with computers."

"Hacking?" I asked him.

"Nah. Hacking is illegal," he answered, adding that he doesn't "condone in [sic] illegal activities."