Hacker group LulzSec is understood to have abandoned plans to dump 4GB of emails from The Sun as well as members of the Royal Family and intends to follow the same approach as WikiLeaks in partnering with specific media outlets to make the data public.
LulzSec was originally planning to ‘dump’ the data online around lunchtime today.
As well as The Sun, the group is believed to have hacked the email system and passwords of News International, including former CEO and News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks’ email.
News International reacted by closing down all external access to its webmail systems.
It now seems that LulzSec, which came out of self-imposed retirement earlier this week by defacing the websites of The Sun and The Times, plans to take the same approach WikiLeaks took by partnering with media to release controversial diplomatic cables.
In a tweet about an hour ago, LulzSec said: “We’re currently working with certain media outlets who have been granted exclusive access to some of the News of the World emails we have.”
The emails, if publicised, could provide a fascinating insight into the controversial methods used by News International journalists, the management wrangling at News International and Brooks’ style of management.
LulzSec hasn’t named the media outlets it is co-operating with and questions will have to be asked if some of that data could prejudice an ongoing investigation into the phone hacking scandal which saw Brooks arrested at the weekend.
