LulzSec (a contraction for Lulz Security) is[1] a grey hat computer hacking group that claimed responsibility for several high profile attacks, including the compromise of user accounts from PlayStation Network in 2011.
Despite claims of retirement, the group committed another hack against newspapers owned by News Corporation on 18 July, defacing them with false reports regarding the death of Rupert Murdoch.
[28][24] In June 2011, the group released a manifesto outlining why they performed hacks and website takedowns, reiterating that "we do things just because we find it entertaining" and that watching the results can be "priceless".
LulzSec said that by releasing lists of hacked usernames or informing the public of vulnerable websites, it gave users the opportunity to change names and passwords elsewhere that might otherwise have been exploited, and businesses would be alarmed and would upgrade their security.
[32] In a question and answer session with BBC Newsnight, LulzSec member Whirlpool (AKA: Topiary) said, "Politically motivated ethical hacking is more fulfilling".
[41] Ian Paul of PC World wrote that, "As its name suggests, LulzSec claims to be interested in mocking and embarrassing companies by exposing security flaws rather than stealing data for criminal purposes.
[50] However, despite claiming to retire, the group remained in communication as it attacked the websites of British newspapers The Times and The Sun on 18 July, leaving a false story on the death of owner Rupert Murdoch.
They stole user data and posted a fake story on the site which claimed that Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls were still alive and living in New Zealand.
LulzSec posted: It has come to our unfortunate attention that NATO and our good friend Barrack Osama-Llama 24th-century Obama [sic] have recently upped the stakes with regard to hacking.
][72]On 9 June, LulzSec sent an email to the administrators of the British National Health Service, informing them of a security vulnerability discovered in NHS systems.
[78] In June 2011, WikiLeaks representative Sigurdur Thordarson contacted members of the Anonymous group LulzSec and told them to join a new IRC server.
Thordarson offered LulzSec an encrypted spreadsheet of classified government data that needed to be decrypted and explained that WikiLeaks had computers at MIT trying unsuccessfully for two weeks.
[97] On 23 June, LulzSec released a number of documents pertaining to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, which they titled "chinga la migra", which roughly translates to "fuck the border patrol".
[111] In June 2011, assets belonging to newspaper publisher News International were attacked, apparently in retaliation for reporting by The Sun of the arrest of Ryan Cleary, an associate of the group.
On 23 June 2011, Fox News reported that rival hacker group TeaMp0isoN were responsible for outing web designer Sven Slootweg, who they said used the online nickname Joepie91,[116] and that they have intentions to do the same with every member.
[117] A Pastebin post in June 2011 from hacker KillerCube identified LulzSec leader Sabu as Hector Xavier Monsegur, an identification later shown to be accurate.
[118] A group calling themselves Team Web Ninjas appeared in June 2011 saying they were angry over the LulzSec release of the e-mail addresses and passwords of thousands of normal Internet users.
[101] Claiming to perform hacks out of a sense of American patriotism,[121] he attempted to obtain and publish the real world personally identifiable information of key members, whom he described as "childish".
[125] The logs were originally assumed to have been leaked by a disillusioned former member of the group who went by the nickname m_nerva,[47] yet fellow hacker Michael Major, known by his handle 'hann', later claimed responsibility.
[127] On 21 June 2011, the London Metropolitan Police announced that they had arrested a 19-year-old man from Wickford, Essex, named by LulzSec and locally as Ryan Cleary,[128] as part of an operation carried out in cooperation with the FBI.
[135] In June 2012 Cleary, together with another suspected LulzSec member, 19-year-old Jake Davis, pleaded guilty conspiring to attack government, law enforcement and media websites in 2011.
[136] At around the same time as Cleary's arrest, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raided the Reston, Virginia facility of Swiss web hosting service DigitalOne.
[143] Some reports suggested the house may have belonged to former LulzSec member m_nerva, whom was originally suspected of leaking a number of the group's logs to the press, and information leading to the warrant supplied by Ryan Cleary.
"[146] On the same day the FBI arrested 21-year-old Lance Moore in Las Cruces, New Mexico, accusing him of stealing thousands of documents and applications from AT&T that LulzSec published as part of their so called "final release".
He is suspected of using the name "recursion" and assisting LulzSec in their early hack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, though he allegedly erased the hard drives he used to carry out the attack.
[153] On 8 August 2013, Raynaldo Rivera, age 21, known by the online moniker "neuron", of Chandler, Arizona, was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison by United States District Judge John A. Kronstadt.
In addition to the prison sentence, Judge Kronstadt ordered Rivera to serve 13 months of home detention, to perform 1,000 hours of community service and to pay $605,663 in restitution to Sony Pictures.
The FBI revealed that supposed LulzSec leader Hector Xavier Monsegur, who went by the username Sabu, had been aiding law enforcement since pleading guilty to twelve counts, including conspiracy and computer hacking, on 15 August 2011 as part of a plea deal.
Flannery, who went by the username Aush0k, was arrested for the alleged hacking of the Narrabri Shire Council website on which homepage sexually explicit text and an image were left.
On 27 August 2014, Flannery entered guilty pleas to five charges of making unauthorised modification of data to cause impairment, and dishonestly obtaining the Commonwealth Bank details of a woman.