Played out joke
The hacking group LulzSec has apparently decided to call it a day, at least under that name, explaining that, contrary to previous suggestions, its planned "50 days of lulz" have come to an end.
The timing of this announcement seems almost too coincidental with a release from another group, calling itself the A-Team, that clamed to reveal the personal details of members of LulzSec. The A-Team release contained names, addresses and IRC transcripts, and promised to make the 'raw' data collected on LulzSec available to any law enforcement agency interested.
Although it's impossible to know at this stage whether the A-Team's information is accurate - LulzSec certainly isn't going to confirm it - it's release comes as only a small part of mounting pressure on the LulzSec. Meanwhile in the UK, a week ago police claimed to have arrested a member of LulzSec, in Essex, although LulzSec has denied that Ryan Cleary was a member of the group.
The signs are clear, though: operating under the LulzSec banner is no longer safe. The advantage LulzSec has over its adversaries, is that its members- assuming their identities haven't been revealed, as claimed - can simply stop using the LulzSec name, and carry on as before, under a different banner - which is exactly what the group's members say they will be doing.
The end result is that although the 'Lulz Boat' has ostensibly stopped sailing, its former helmsmen are still at sea. And while LulzSec earned a fair amount of media attention with its hacks into the likes of Sony and PBS, it's important to remember that there are plenty more hackers out there more interested in the business of hacking that gaining press attention for their activities - ostensibly LulzSec's real achievement.
