Twitter boasts land Anonymous member in jail after huge data breach

A 21-year-old man with links to Anonymous has been detained by US police, following a series of online boasts claiming involvement in recent cyber attacks on the Utah Chiefs of Police Association and the Salt Lake City Police Department (SLCPD).

The man, from Ohio, was named in the indictment as John Anthony Borell III, is charged with two counts of computer intrusion, referring to his alleged use of a computer program to launch an SQL injection attack on the websites in January.

According to Kaspersky analyst Brian Donohue, Borell's Twitter boasts were an instrumental part of his downfall.

"Borell might have gotten away with it too, if he hadn't taken credit for the attack on his Twitter account (handle: @ItsKahuna), posting the admin username and password combination of the Utah Chiefs of Police Association," said Donohue in a blog post.

"Law enforcement gathered the information and connected it to Borell after sending a search warrant to Twitter and receiving an IP audit in return."

Borrell's arrest comes as a part of an ongoing campaign by the world's law enforcement to catch Anonymous hacktivists.

Most recently within the UK the campaign saw police detain the alleged leader of affiliate group Team Poison.

Authorities focus on Anonymous has since been questioned by F-Secure security chief, Mikko Hypponen, who suggested law enforcement's time may be better spent targeting the real threat, cyber criminals.