Notorious computer hacker charged with spray-painting Chicago cop car during West Loop protest

Celebrated computer hacker Jeremy Hammond is accused of spray-painting a Chicago police car during a chaotic anti-war demonstration Tuesday night in the West Loop that resulted in dozens of arrests.

Hammond, a former member of the notorious “hacktivist” collective known as Anonymous, faces a misdemeanor charge for allegedly scrawling an anarchist symbol on a cop car after protesters descended on the Israeli consulate, according to Cook County prosecutors and court records.

Hammond, 39, from Chicago, had been sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2013. Federal prosecutors said he and other members of an Anonymous offshoot known as AntiSec broke into computer systems used by the private intelligence firm Strategic Forecasting Inc., also known as Stratfor.

Hammond and others stole emails and account information for about 860,000 Stratfor subscribers or clients, according to the feds. They also stole credit card data for about 60,000 credit card users and made more than $700,000 in unauthorized charges.

Records show Hammond was released from the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons in March 2021.

On Wednesday, he looked shocked when prosecutors said he had six felony convictions on his record – a mistake they quickly corrected. He nodded when other previous convictions, including the federal hacking charges and battery to a police officer, were detailed.

Hammond’s public defender described him as a longtime Cook County resident and said he now works at a print shop.

Judge Ankur Srivastava noted that while his hacking case was "significant," Hammond's record was "mostly" nonviolent.

Hammond was released from custody and ordered to report to social services. He was also temporarily barred from returning to the area of Tuesday’s protest against the war in Gaza.

His next court date was set for Oct. 15.