Adrian Lamo, Hacker Who Turned In Chelsea Manning, Has Reportedly Died

Adrian Lamo, a prolific former hacker perhaps best known for indirectly reporting whistleblower Chelsea Manning to the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Command, has reportedly died.

A Facebook post made by Lamo’s father Mario Lamo indicates that Lamo passed away.

“With great sadness and a broken heart I have to let know [sic] all of Adrian’s friends and acquittances that he is dead,” Lamo’s father wrote on Facebook . “A bright mind and compassionate soul is gone, he was my beloved son.”

UK’s The Mirror reports a coroner for Sedgwick County, where Lamo lived, has confirmed his death. A cause of death has not been disclosed. Lamo was 37 years old.

Lamo was a well-known hacker who carried out a number of high-profile attacks. In 2002, Lamo broke into the computer network of the New York Times and used the paper’s tools to conduct research and gather information about high-profile subjects. The New York Times filed a complaint over the breach, and Lamo was eventually arrested. He pleaded guilty to a felony count of computer crimes over his hack.

Lamo would later be convicted for additional breaches in which he compromised the computer networks of the The New York Times, Microsoft, Yahoo and WorldCom.

Outside of his prolific hacking career, Lamo was perhaps best known for his apparent involvement in turning Chelsea Manning over to federal authorities for providing classified documents to WikiLeaks.

Lamo and Manning communicated with one another over instant messenger and email and Manning disclosed to Lamo that, while serving in the Army, she was leaking diplomatic cables and other information.

“I wouldn’t have done this if lives weren’t in danger,” Lamo told Wired at the time of the arrest. “He was in a war zone and basically trying to vacuum up as much classified information as he could, and just throwing it up into the air.”

The decision to report Manning resulted in Lamo being ostracized by the hacking community. WikiLeaks denounced Lamo and other hackers began referring to him as a snitch. Some went as far as to accuse Lamo of treason.