LulzSec disbanding, experts awaiting new attacks

PanARMENIAN.Net - Facing increasing pressure from law enforcement agencies over its brazen computer attacks, the small group of hackers known as Lulz Security announced over the weekend that it would disband.

But security experts said on Sunday, June 26, that the dissolution of the group might not signal an end to the attacks, which have hit dozens of Web sites, including those of prominent targets like the Central Intelligence Agency, the United States Senate, the Arizona state police and Sony, The New York Times reports.

Indeed, in its farewell message posted on Saturday, the group, also known as LulzSec, urged other hackers to join the “revolution” aimed at governments and corporations that it started recently with Anonymous, a much larger collective of politically minded hackers from which many of the LulzSec members sprung.

In recent weeks, LulzSec has become a target itself, as global law enforcement authorities and rival hackers have gone after the group. One man associated with LulzSec, Ryan Cleary, was arrested last week in Britain. Meanwhile, a growing assemblage of rival hackers has been working to unmask the core half-dozen LulzSec members and feed information on them to the authorities.

On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security plans to introduce a system to help institutions eliminate common programming errors that allow hackers to easily infiltrate databases and steal user names and passwords. The agency’s hope is that the program, which is voluntary, will make it easier for companies and agencies to better secure their corners of the Internet, thus contributing to a safer global network.