Hacker who gave up Wikileaks source dead

London, March 17 (IANS) Adrian Lamo, a computer hacker best known for passing on information that led to the arrest of Chelsea Manning, has died aged 37, the media reported on Saturday.

The cause of Lamo's death, confirmed to the BBC by the Sedgwick county coroner in Kansas, has not yet been made public.

On Facebook, his father Mario wrote: "With great sadness and a broken heart I have to let know all of Adrian's friends and acquittances (sic) that he is dead. A bright mind and compassionate soul is gone, he was my beloved son."

Lamo's own record as a hacker included some high-profile targets, such as Microsoft and The New York Times.

Speaking to the Guardian in 2011, Lamo described his decision to give up Manning, the transgender US soldier convicted of espionage for leaking national security secrets, as "not one I decided to make, but was thrust upon me".

Lamo said he would have "lasting regret" if Manning was handed a long sentence.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on Friday described Lamo as a "petty conman and betrayer of basic human decency".