Sigurdur Ingi Thordarson () (born 1992), commonly known as Siggi hakkari ("Siggi the Hacker"), is an Icelandic convicted criminal and FBI informant against WikiLeaks. He is known for information leaks, multiple cases of fraud and embezzlement, sexual solicitation of minors and adults. He has multiple convictions for sexual offences.
In 2010, at the age of 17, he was arrested for stealing and leaking classified information about Icelandic financial companies. After his arrest, Kristinn Hrafnsson introduced him to Julian Assange, the editor and founder of WikiLeaks, and he worked as a volunteer for the organization between 2010 and 2011. In 2011, Thordarson contacted the FBI and offered to become an informant, turning over numerous internal WikiLeaks documents and hard drives in the process. WikiLeaks accused him of having embezzled $50,000 from the WikiLeaks online store to which he pleaded guilty along with other economic crimes against other entities. He was also accused of using Julian Assange's name in legal documents.
In June 2021, in an interview with Icelandic newspaper Stundin, Thordarson admitted that he had fabricated testimony he made against Julian Assange in the case in which the US sought Assange's extradition from the UK. Thordarson was a key witness whose testimony was crucial to the US case, according to numerous news organisations, including the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, The Hill, Der Spiegel and The Intercept. The Washington Post disagreed, writing that Thordarson's testimony was not part of the core allegations.
In the 2024 documentary A Dangerous Boy, directed by Ole Bendzen and produced by Academy Award-nominated Søren Steen Jespersen, it is alleged that the article claiming Thordarson admitted to lying was orchestrated and funded by WikiLeaks. Journalist Kristjón Kormákur, who has authored several articles about Thordarson, stated that he and Bjartmar Alexandersson were hired to investigate Thordarson, which ultimately led to the publication of the article. Thordarson has noted on his personal website that he does not admit to lying anywhere in the article or in the recordings of the interview; the claim appears only in the headline. WikiLeaks and Bjartmar Alexandersson declined to participate in the documentary, and the editor-in-chief of Stundin (now Heimildin) declined to comment on the allegations. Bjartmar stated in the documentary that he would not be allowed to participate unless WikiLeaks approved. When informed that WikiLeaks had hired journalists to produce the article, Thordarson responded: "Interesting".https://www.visir.is/k/6cf8c5a2-5db1-4062-b3e4-cf11e64bdb23-1705388520800/-thessi-grein-eg-skrifadi-hana-https://www.visir.is/g/20242516083d/-mer-vard-hrein-lega-o-glatt-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWDfBhixmMwhttps://isociopath.com/
Early life and education Thordarson grew up middle-class in Reykjavik with a younger sister. He began hacking at age 12 and joined WikiLeaks in February 2010 when he was 17 years old and in high school. He went to university to study computer science and psychology, but says he was suspended for hacking.
Information leaks Thordarson began leaking information about the Icelandic banking system to the media in late 2009. This included information about individuals in the Icelandic banking system, information that showed that individuals were committing illegal acts in relation to banking. One of the leaks by Thordarson concerned a case called "Vafningsmálið." It involved Bjarni Benediktsson during his time as an MP. Bjarni reported that the case was only a political smear campaign. The information published by Icelandic news media obtained from Thordarson also showed that one of the country's biggest football stars, Eiður Guðjohnsen, was deeply indebted and almost bankrupt.
After the information was published, Eiður sued the local newspaper DV for publishing this information. DV lost the case in a lower court, but won an appeal to the Supreme Court of Iceland, stating that the information was a matter for the public. Amongst other information that Thordarson admitted to have leaked in an interview with the Rolling Stone magazine was information about local businessman Karl Wernersson. He was the owner of the Milestone ehf that was the investment company from which Thordarson stole most of the information. Other names in the documents leaked by Thordarson included information about Birkir Kristinsson, who had recently been convicted of economic crimes while working for Glitnir bank. Some speculate that information from Thordarson was used as evidence in that case, Thordarson also leaked a classified report about one of the bigger aluminum plants in Iceland. The report stated that the plant was paying 1/4 of what other aluminum plants in the world are paying for electricity.
Other information leaked by Thordarson contained information about other local business men such as Gunnar Gunnarsson, who also has been reported to assist football star Cristiano Ronaldo in tax affairs. Kristinn Hrafnsson thought Thordarson's leaks were "quite significant" and introduced him to Julian Assange. In 2013, Thordarson argued with Birgitta Jónsdóttir on Twitter over the release of the loanbooks of the Glitnir Bank. Thordarson said she had no involvement, but he claimed that he had given her the files years ago. In 2009, Thordarson arrived at the offices of the Special Prosecutor, who investigated the bank collapse in Iceland in 2008. Thordarson reportedly gave them all the information he had on Milestone and other local business men, however instead of using some of the information obtained from Thordarson in investigation the investigators decided to sell the information. The case against the two police officers was later dismissed, and it has been reported that the investigators made roughly 30 Million ISK ($250.000) from the documents.
WikiLeaks Thordarson began working for WikiLeaks as early as February 2010 and was fired in November 2011. In a few weeks, Thordarson was in Assange's inner circle. According to one former volunteer, "the perception was that Siggi basically got to a level where Julian trusted him in a matter of days." Birgitta Jónsdóttir, a former WikiLeaks volunteer and member of the Icelandic parliament who worked on Collateral Murder, described Julian Assange's relationship with Thordarson as like "Batman and Robin." Several of WikiLeaks' core volunteers said that Siggi was a dangerous liability, prone to indiscretions and lies and Jonsdottir warned Assange not to trust Thordarson. Assange told others not to trust or talk to Thordarson, but continued working with him. According to Daniel Domscheit-Berg, "it all implied Julian was using him. These are all kinds of games children get into."
Assange helped Thordarson find a lawyer in 2010 after he was arrested, and directly gave Thordarson an encrypted cell phone, and involved him in the Collateral Murder project. Assange asked Thordarson to write psychological profiles of core WikiLeaks members and to install hidden cameras to spy on guests in Ellingham Hall. Thordarson performed additional surveillance and copied their hard drives. They talked regularly and Thordarson looked for equipment and made encrypted calls to contacts on Assange's behalf. According to an indictment against Assange, he and Thordarson made a "joint attempt" to decrypt a file stolen from an Icelandic bank.
Thordarson took part in moderating a chat room, vetting potential allies and sources. Reports state that Thordarson obtained many leaks that WikiLeaks later published, such as The Kissinger cables, The Syria Files, and the Stratfor emails and journalists said he was involved in delivering the leaked diplomatic cables to journalists. He also sold T-shirts for the organisation and was the middle man in negotiations that led to WikiLeaks donating $15,000 to Chelsea Manning's defense fund.
David Kushner reported that Thordarson provided Rolling Stone with over 1 terabyte of data about WikiLeaks, including thousands of pages of chat logs, videos, tapped phone calls, government documents. Kushner said that either Thordarson was the real deal or this was the biggest and most elaborate lie in the digital age, and that Assange's affidavit validated the importance of Siggi's documents. Tangerine Bolen, founder of former WikiLeaks collaborator RevolutionTruth, said WikiLeaks' efforts to discredit Thordarson after his FBI cooperation became public were patently false: "They’re scared. The fact is Siggi played a key role in the organization and was very close to Julian."
Thordarson embezzled $50,000 from a WikiLeaks online store that sold T-shirts, the money was paid into his own bank account and the official reason why he was fired. Thordarson said he used the funds to cover expenses he was owed by WikiLeaks and that the money went through his account with Assange's permission. Thordarson was later convicted on a related charge.
Anonymous and LulzSec Media sources indicate that persons part of Anonymous and LulzSec reported to Thordarson, and chat logs between Thordarson and Hector Monsegur a.k.a. Sabu during Sabu's time as an FBI informant have surfaced. Former WikiLeaks employee James Ball has said Thordarson reported directly to Assange and served as WikiLeaks' contact with hacker groups and Thordarson said Assange was with him when he asked Sabu to hack Icelandic websites and Stratfor on WikiLeaks’ behalf.
During his period at WikiLeaks, it has also been reported that Thordarson ordered attacks on Icelandic governmental infrastructures such as the servers hosting the Ministry's websites stjornarradid.is and landsnet.is. Those DDoS attacks were successful for a few hours. This was all done after an Icelandic business man that owns an Icelandic data center asked Thordarson to do so. It has also been reported that Thordarson ordered Hector Monsegur (Sabu) and his team to attack Icelandic State Police servers. It is reported that Thordarson obtained the unpublished version of a report about the surveillance unit at the U.S. Embassy in Reykjavik.
Icelandic Parliament "Spy Computer" In January 2011, it was reported in the Icelandic media that a computer had been found within closed sections of the Parliament. It was alleged that WikiLeaks was suspected of placing the computer inside the Parliament. Bjarni Benediktsson the MP Thordarson leaked information about comments found on the computer.
Thordarson was questioned about his involvement in this case. Morgunblaðið, Iceland's largest newspaper published on the front page on 31 January 2011 that a local reporter for the paper DV was suspected of obtaining the information from Thordarson. The reporter was said to be under investigation for receiving the information from Thordarson and manipulating Thordarson into leaking the information and placing the computer inside Parliament. The reporter sued the newspaper for libel and won the case. Morgunblaðið withdrew the report and issued an apology to the reporter on 7 December.
A later report in the Icelandic media stated that specialists were checking whether parliament phones were spied on by WikiLeaks. Wired published chat logs that indicated they got copies of phone call recordings. Some Icelandic papers have connected the phone call recordings that WikiLeaks allegedly got to "Spy Computer" scandal. Birgitta Jónsdóttir issued a statement stating that she had never heard of any recordings.
As of 2016, the case was still under investigation with no official suspects.
In a June 2021 interview with Icelandic media Stundin, Thordarson said that Assange did not ask him to hack or record phone calls of the MPs. Thordarson claimed that he was given files from someone who claimed to have recorded the MPs and that he offered to share them with Assange without checking the files.
FBI connection