Bored hacker group disbands

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http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/LulzSec-member-says-group-is-bored-20110627

New York - A member of a publicity-seeking hacker group that sabotaged websites over the past two months and is dissolving itself says his group isn't disbanding under pressure from the FBI or enemy hackers.

"We're not quitting because we're afraid of law enforcement," the LulzSec member said in a conversation with The Associated Press over the internet voice program Skype. "The press are getting bored of us, and we're getting bored of us."

The group's hacking has included attacks on law enforcement and releases of private data. It said unexpectedly on Saturday it was dissolving itself.

LulzSec claimed hacks on Sony and other major entertainment companies, FBI partner organisations, the CIA, the US Senate and a pornography website.

In the Sunday interview, the hacker acknowledged that some of the material being circulated by rivals online - which purports to reveal the hackers' online nicknames, past histories, and chat logs - was genuine, something he said had proved to be "a distraction".

He added that three or four of Lulz Security's members were taking what he called "a breather" and said he was considering giving up cyber attacks altogether.

"Maybe I'll stop this hacking thing entirely. I haven't decided," he said. He said he couldn't speak for the others' long-term plans, but said it was possible some of the members would continue to be involved with Anonymous, the much larger and more amorphous hacking group which has targeted the Church of Scientology, Middle Eastern dictatorships, and the music industry, among others.

Stolen files

He said the six-member group was still sitting on a considerable amount of stolen law enforcement files.

"It's safe to say at this point that they are sitting on a lot of data."

Although the hacker declined to identify himself publicly, he has verified his membership with Lulz Security by posting a pre-arranged message to the group's popular Twitter feed.

Lulz Security made its Saturday announcement about disbanding through its Twitter account. That statement gave no reason for the decision to disband.

The same LulzSec member was interviewed by The Associated Press on Friday, and gave no indication that its work was ending.

Kevin Mitnick, a security consultant and former hacker, said the group had probably concluded that the more they kept up their activities, the greater the chance that one of them would make some mistake that would enable authorities to catch them.

They've inspired copycat groups around the globe, he noted, which means similar attacks are likely to continue even without LulzSec.

Watch the mayhem

"They can sit back and watch the mayhem and not risk being captured," Mitnick said.

As a parting shot, LulzSec released a grab-bag of documents and login information apparently gleaned from gaming websites and corporate servers. The largest group of documents - 338 files - appears to be internal documents from AT&T, detailing its build out of a new wireless broadband network in the US.

The network is set to go live this summer. A spokesperson for the phone company could not immediately confirm the authenticity of the documents.

In the Friday interview, the LulzSec member said the group was sitting on at least 5 gigabytes of government and law enforcement data from across the world, which it planned to release in the next three weeks. Saturday's release was less than a tenth of that size.

In an unusual strategy for a hacker group, LulzSec has sought publicity and conducted a conversation with the public through its Twitter account. LulzSec attacked anyone it could for "the lulz," which is internet jargon for "laughs."

- AP

 

[hungrybeaver]

Good, they're finally stopping these attacks. They do no good for net neutrality.

 

[zippy]

Good, they're finally stopping these attacks. They do no good for net neutrality.

The damage is done. Net neutrality is now a myth.

Some good jobs available in western govts in this field.

 

[Nicko]

Good, they're finally stopping these attacks. They do no good for net neutrality.

Um think again.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/aus...a-in-filter-bind/story-e6frgakx-1226081618113

THE voluntary internet filter for child abuse is facing a major setback, with Telstra wavering on the commitment it made to the scheme last July.

At the time Telstra public policy director David Quilty said Telstra was happy to implement the filter in response to a call by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy.

However, a Telstra spokeswoman last night confirmed that the telco had yet to make a firm decision on whether to implement the filter.

She said Telstra remained committed to working with the federal government to reduce the availability of child abuse material on the net.

"We continue to work with the Australian Federal Police to disrupt the availability of child sexual abuse content in Australia," the spokeswoman said.

"One option being considered is the blocking of a list of illegal child sexual abuse sites identified as being the worst globally by international policing body Interpol."

The filter focuses exclusively on internet child abuse material from a list maintained by the AFP in co-operation with international law-enforcement agencies.

Optus said last night it remained committed to the filter, but without Telstra the number of internet users within its scope would fall dramatically.

There were signs the federal government was prepared to be flexible on its strategy for dealing with and blocking online child abuse material. A spokesman for Senator Conroy said: "We are still working through the details of the voluntary arrangements with the ISPs and details have not yet been finalised."

It is understood Telstra was last night still grappling with the decision as to whether to commit to the voluntary filter because of fears of reprisals from the internet vigilantes behind a spate of recent cyber attacks.

It is understood the unstructured collective of hackers that identifies itself as Lulz Security, which has an agenda to wreak havoc on corporate and government cyber assets, claiming this is to expose security flaws, is one of Telstra main concerns.

LulzSec has claimed responsibility for attacks on the US Central Intelligence Agency, the US PBS and most recently it released a swath of Arizona law-enforcement documents.

On Tuesday, one of the suspected hackers, Ryan Cleary, 19, was arrested in England in a joint Scotland Yard and FBI operation. He has been charged with closing down the website of Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency.

The other main concern is a group that identifies itself as Anonymous, another unstructured hacker collective that claims to be opposed to any form of internet censorship, and has carried out attacks on Australian government websites because of Canberra's support for an internet filter on child pornography.

Patrick Gray, host of information security podcast Risky Business said the carriers' fears were well-founded.

"If they think there's a laugh in something and it ties in with their politics, they might have a go, sure," he said. "It's all about the lulz (laughs) for them."

I am all for the fight against child abuse, but I am glad the ISP didnt commit to this. As this is a very slippery slope, they start off allowing this, but then what is stopping them from also filter other illicit sites that may not be to the governments liking.