Arrested Anonymous Australia Member Gets Away Without Any Prison Time

Adam John Bennett, 42, has received a light sentence in the West Australian District Court in Perth, Australia, yesterday, after previously admitting to being part of multiple cyber-attacks, The West Australian reports.



Mr. Bennett, known online as Lorax and active member of the Anonymous Australia group, had already pleaded guilty to six hacking charges last October.

Bennett is now a free man, albeit under intensive supervision Yesterday was his sentencing hearing, and the judge gave Bennett a two years suspended prison sentence and 200 hours of community service. Moreover, he was also ordered Bennett to follow an intensive supervision schedule.
Bennett was arrested in 2014 following a police raid at his home, was accused and he later admitted to participating in Anonymous hacktivism campaigns that resulted in website defacements. Some of his targets included both private companies and Australian government websites.
Only five of the six charges were related to hacktivism, a sixth being of hacking the servers of Cancer Support WA (Bennett's employer) and HotCopper. In his defense, Bennett said that he was only testing their servers for the Heartbleed vulnerability, which was his job. It is unclear if this sixth charge was made because of a complaint from the two companies or the prosecution just pilled it on top.
Judge about Lorax: You're an immature creep At his sentencing hearing, the judge described Bennett as an "immature creep who doesn't mind his own business" and a "creepy pest," but admitted there was little damage caused by Bennett.
The hacker received a light sentence because the judge didn't want to turn him into a martyr and because he was involved with numerous charitable campaigns.
Mr. Bennett's sentence concludes a four-year-old legal battle that the Australian justice system had against Anonymous hackers. Previously, in different cases, two other hackers also received sentences. They were Mathew Hutchison (Rax) and Justin Soyke (Juzzy, Absantos).
Hutchinson received a two-year community corrections order and community service while Soyke got three years in jail, with twelve months to serve before being released on a three-year recognizance.
UPDATE: The article was updated to reflect the fact that the sixth charge was not confirmed to be made by Bennett's employer, and that the three Anonymous members did not collaborate.