Anonymous and LulzSec join forces – plan high-profile attacks

20 Jun 2011

Two of the internet’s most notorious hacker groups, LulzSec and Anonymous, have joined forces to launch Operation Anti-Security (AntiSec), threatening to take down any government or agency that crosses their paths.

“Top priority is to steal and leak any classified government information, including email spools and documentation,” LulzSec said online today.

“Prime targets are banks and other high-ranking establishments. If they try to censor our progress, we will obliterate the censor with cannonfire anointed with lizard blood.”

Who are LulzSec and Anonymous?

LulzSec is the black hat computer group believed to be behind high-profile cyber attacks that saw more than 1m Sony user accounts compromised and the CIA website taken offline.

It specialises in finding websites that are poorly secured and then attacking them with methods like SQL injections to steal information and publish it online. It says it does not hack for profit, but for entertainment value.

Anonymous spawned out of the 4chan community and exists as a collective, anarchic global brain. Its members have been responsible for attacks on the Spanish police and the US-based Westboro Baptist Church, and is also believed to have caused the Sony PlayStation Network outage. The group is also behind pranks such as YouTube porn day, where members posted porn videos on YouTube.

Over the weekend, LulzSec published a manifesto of sorts to mark its 1,000th tweet.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com