News
Cyber buccaneering hacking group Lulzsec embarks on a new journey, this time under the new Antisec flag
June 2011 by
New looming threats of larger, more organised hacking groups are arising with the development of the Lulzsec group, disbanding themselves, only to rename themselves under the Antisec name which has attracted a large amount of media attention. The group aims to breach security rights and obtain information on large organisations, a move that recently saw Citibank and Sony have to re-think their security policies, and last year, hacking was estimated to cost businesses an average €1.3m a year. The coming year presents a year of change for many security professionals, as information is now moving towards the cloud, a new wave of challenges arise, which will be discussed at GDS International’s Next Generation Security Summit Europe 2011, Spain, 12th-14th December.
© Dusan Jankovic
Over the weekend, the online hacking group, notorious for obtaining security information on corporate giants and governments, announced that it was disbanding through its Twitter feed. Following on from this, one member told Associated Press over the internet voice calling system, Skype, that it was not because of increasing pressure from law enforcement such as FBI, or enemy hackers, but more out of ’boredom’ from the media.
“We’re not quitting because we’re afraid of law enforcement,” the LulzSec member said. “The press are getting bored of us, and we’re getting bored”.
But the attention it gained as a result, seems to have wet their appetites for more mayhem, and in a statement, has announced that they are back with a vengeance out to inflict more security troubles on companies and governments.
“It has been a week since the LulzBoat reeled the LulzSec flag in and now proudly flies with the AntiSec flag”, the statement read.
In what they called the final release from Lulzsec, with the tagline of ’laughing at your security since 2011’, Lulzsec’s message was clear – that they had intended to plant a seed of inspiration amongst other hackers, and wished for the internet hacking community to continue on with their work. But now, the birth of a new development, ’Antisec’, has been born which continues on with the work with the alliance network, Annoymous, which confirms doubts that the Lulzboat would not dock permanently.
“We hope, wish, even beg, that the movement manifests itself into a revolution that can continue on without us”, the release, posted onto the site, Pastebin, said. “Please don’t stop. Together, united, we can stomp down our common oppressors and imbue ourselves with the power and freedom we deserve”.
Speculation as to why they decided to quit when they were building up a momentous movement has been that the group was becoming too big, but its goal to inspire other hackers to continue their work was done and so hackers could continue what, the self proclaimed “captain of the Lulz Boat”, nicknamed Whirlpool, “politically motivated hacking”.
Kevin Mitnick, a security consultant and former hacker, said that if the group continued to swell in size, that eventually they would trip and get caught, rather it was easier and less risky to encourage copycats to carry on their work independently.
"They can sit back and watch the mayhem and not risk being captured," Mitnick said
The message brings a stark warning to organisations and their security departments as the sophisticated methods deployed by the hacking community seems to know no boundaries, as giants such as US telecoms company, AT&T are rumoured to be the latest victim following on from developments that government and law enforcement data had been obtained. In the interview with the Lulzsec member, they claimed that they were in possession of at least 5 gigabytes of data, which it planned to release in the next few weeks, potentially similar to the data dump that was transferred onto the file sharing site, PirateBay. On their hit list, they have named governments such as Zimbabwe, and companies such as Universal and Viacom.
At the last Next Generation Security Summit which took place on 14th - 16th June, Paolo Campobasso, SVP & Group CSO of UniCredit Group said that in order to tackle these ongoing security dilemmas, it was crucial that everyone in the organisation worked together with the same vision in mind, and that security wasn’t just the responsibility of one department, but rather should be viewed as a competitive asset to a company.
“The challenge is to try to have a big important dialogue with other functions within the company”, Campobasso said. “It is important that security is a concept that is widely understood from people working together”.
The information security front is changing rapidly with advancements in technology. Further adoption of cloud technologies will continue to present CISOs with new threats, and companies adopting social media strategies allow for new opportunities to lure unsuspecting users to the hands of cyber criminal activity, so security professionals must remain vigilant in their approaches to protect their customers. The Next Generation Security Summit EU held in Spain, 12th - 14th December is an exclusive industry forum that brings together the industry’s leaders, experts and most experienced members to address the key challenges that the industry is facing and to share expertise and experience.
For more information please visit: www.ngsecurityeu.com
