The hacker group Lulz Security has opened a telephone request line so its fans can suggest potential targets.

 

It claims to have launched denial of service attacks on several websites as a result, although it did not detail which ones. The unspecified hacks formed part of a wave of security breaches that the group called Titanic Takeover Tuesday.

 

LulzSec has risen to prominence in recent months by attacking Sony, Nintendo and several US broadcasters. The group publicised the telephone hotline on its Twitter feed. Callers to the US number are met with a recorded message, in a heavy French accent, by an individual calling themself Pierre Dubois.

 

While the 614 area code appears to relate to the state of Ohio, it is unlikely that this is its real location. Lulz Security said it had used distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) against eight sites suggested by callers.

 

It also claimed to have hit the websites of gaming magazine The Escapist, and multiplayer games EVE Online and League of Legends. DDoS attacks typically involve crashing a website by inundating it with requests from computers under the attacker's control. It is unclear, in this instance, if LulzSec went beyond overloading the sites and sought to gain access to information stored on their servers.

 

Lulz Security attacks

 

• May 7: US X Factor contestant database
  
• May 10: Fox.com user passwords
  
• May 15: Database listing locations of UK cash machines
  
• May 23: Sonymusic Japan website
  
• May 30: US broadcaster PBS. Staff logon information
  
• June 2: Sonypictures.com user information
  
• June 3: Infragard website (FBI affiliated organisation)
  
• June 3: Nintendo.com
  
• June 10: Pron.com pornographic website
  
• June 13: Senate.gov - website of US Senate
  
• June 13: Bethesda software website. User information
  
• June 14: EVE Online, League of Legends, The Escapist and others
  

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13777129

Serious Organised Crime agency website taken down after LulzSec 'Ddos attack'

 

The Soca website was taken offline by an apparent denial of service attack

 

Serious Organised Crime agency website taken down after LulzSec 'Ddos attack'

 

The UK Serious Organised Crime agency has taken its website offline after it appeared to be a victim of an attack by hacking group Lulz Security.

 

Soca said it had taken its website offline to limit the impact attack on clients hosted by its service provider. Soca.gov.uk had been unavailable for much of Monday afternoon, with an intermittent service restored later.

 

Lulz Security has said it was behind the denial of service attack which had taken the website offline. Earlier on Monday, as the agency launched an investigation, LulzSec tweeted: "Tango down - in the name of #AntiSec".

 

The group has hit a number of high-profile websites in recent weeks, including the CIA and US Senate. Soca appeared to be the victim of a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, where large numbers of computers, under malicious control, overload their target with web requests.

 

In a statement given to BBC News, a Soca spokesman said: "Soca has chosen to take its website offline to limit the impact of DDOS attack on other clients hosted by our service provider. "The Soca website is a source of information for the general public which is hosted by an external provider. It is not linked to our operational material or the data we hold."

 

Earlier on Monday, a LulzSec Twitter posting seemed to confirm the nature of the attack. "DDoS is of course our least powerful and most abundant ammunition. Government hacking is taking place right now behind the scenes," it said.

 

The latest attack will come as an embarrassment for Soca, which is tasked with investigating cybercrime. "It is not going to please the boys in blue one bit," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at security firm Sophos. Mr Cluley added that it was wrong to confuse DDoS with the kind of hacking that can lead to confidential information being stolen.

 

However, he warned that LulzSec was capable of both types of attack. "They have in the past broken into websites and stolen e-mail addresses and passwords, so there is a lot of harm can be done."

 

When Lulz Security first appeared in May, the group portrayed itself as a light-hearted organisation, bent on creating online fun and Lulz (laughs).

Soon after, details of its hacking exploits began to emerge.

 

The first involved stealing and publishing a database of US X-Factor contestants, including their e-mail addresses and phone numbers. It followed up with a mixture of website denial of service attacks and intrusions where data was taken and made available on the internet.

 

On June 19, LulzSec declared that it would begin targeting government systems, calling the campaign Antisec. "Top priority is to steal and leak any classified government information, including e-mail spools and documentation. Prime targets are banks and other high-ranking establishments," said a post on the group's website.

 

The reason for LulzSec's greater focus on government is unclear, although it appears to have recently ended a feud with the more politically-motivated group Anonymous.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13848510

 

Teenager charged over alleged website attacks

 

A 19-year-old Essex man has been charged with five computer offences, including attacking the Serious Organised Crime Agency's website. Ryan Cleary, from Wickford, is alleged to have set up a distributed denial of service attack on Soca on 20 June.

 

It is alleged he attacked the website of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry in November 2010. He also allegedly attacked the British Phonographic Industry's website in October.

 

Mr Cleary was charged under the crime act and Computer Misuse Act by the Met Police's e-crime unit and will appear in court on Thursday.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13879678

Soon after this report, Lulzsec trashed The Sun on their Twitter page and found it hilarious people thought they were caught.

 

:lol:

 

But, I believe it was revealed this teenager was the one who infamously attacked Sony in May.

Internet security needs to be beefed up

LulzSec Hackers Call It Quits After 50 Days

 

 

LulzSec Hackers Call It Quits After 50 Days

 

Lulz Security has announced it is done with terrorising the cyber world following a 50-day campaign.

 

The rogue hacking group gained worldwide recognition for claiming breaches on the websites of computer games giants Sony and Nintendo, the US Central Intelligence Agency and the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) in the UK. But it seems the collective's antics, which they claim they did "just because we could", have apparently come to an end.

 

"For the past 50 days we've been disrupting and exposing corporations, governments, often the general population itself, and quite possibly everything in between, just because we could," it announced in a statement. "It's time to say bon voyage."

 

LulzSec went on to say that it only ever intended to operate for 50 days as an attempt to revive the Anti-Sec movement, which is opposed to the computer security industry. "Our planned 50 day cruise has expired, and we must now sail into the distance, leaving behind - we hope - inspiration, fear, denial, happiness, approval, disapproval, mockery, embarrassment, thoughtfulness, jealousy, hate, even love," it said.

 

The message claims to come from "our crew of six" and was announced on their website and on Twitter. But there was no way of contacting the group or its members to verify the release.

 

Police swooped on this home in Essex and arrested a teen suspected of hacking

 

The so-called retirement comes a day after the group tweeted: "If President Obama wears a shoe on his head throughout the entirety of his next big speech, we will cease fire on all targets forever."

 

It also followed claims the group leaked one last data dump with secret information allegedly taken from AT&T, AOL, Disney, Universal, EMI and the FBI. Critics have accused the group of being nervous and said it has more than likely made the sudden decision to disband as they know police are getting closer to tracing them.

 

A British teenager suspected of involvement with the LulzSec hacking spree was arrested after police investigating the notorious hacking group swooped on his Essex home last week. Ryan Cleary, 19, has been charged wtih targeting the Soca website and remains in custody in London.

 

http://news.sky.com/