20-year old hacker linked with attacks on security blogger, Wired writer, and Ars Technica

After being the target of simultaneous cyber attacks and a visit to his house from armed police, security blogger Brian Krebs has uncovered new information that may link his attack with the high-profile hack of Wired senior writer Mat Honan.

Already believing that he was the target of a disgruntled person or persons belonging to a black market website that trades social security numbers, Krebs was able to independently verify that the attacks were launched by a hacker going by the alias Phobia. According to Krebs, Phobia is part of a four-person Xbox Live gamer team called Team Hype which hijacks Xbox Live Gamertags (specifically targeting Microsoft employees) and selling the accounts to other gamers.

Tracing a Twitter account linked to his attacker, Krebs learned that Phobia’s personal information (including real name, address and phone number) had also been leaked. In the space of a short phone call, Krebs was able to confirm that Phobia (who is 20 years of age) was linked to the attack of Wired’s Mat Honan, which saw Honan’s Twitter, Google, and iCloud accounts breached and some personal data deleted. Ars Technica has since said Phobia may be behind the recent DOS attack on its servers last week.