The Pirate BayLulz Security said in a statement posted online Saturday that it will stop its 50-day hacking spree.
10:26 p.m. | Updated Adding background on Ryan Cleary, whom the British police arrested this week and linked to Lulz Security.
Lulz Security, a group of hackers who have tormented corporations and government agencies, said Saturday that it would stop its spree, 50 days after it first started attacks.
In a statement posted on The Pirate Bay, a file-sharing Web site, the group said its six members had decided to “say bon voyage” as Lulz Security but did not cite a reason.
In addition, the group shared a number of files and documents it said were obtained in the course of its attacks. These files, which were available for download, included what appeared to be internal company documents from ATT and user names and passwords from a number of other Web sites.
On its Twitter feed, the group’s members encouraged other hackers to continue attacking Web sites and government agencies and said they planned to stay involved in the efforts through Anonymous, another collective of rogue hackers.
Even assuming the statement speaks for what is a loose and anarchic group, the claim that it does not plan any more data breaches or other hacking efforts is open to question. Lulz Security has become known online for its sarcastic and snide commentary, and has continually promised to carry on.
It is unclear why the group decided to stop hacking under its current name. In a recent interview with Adrian Chen of Gawker, one the group’s members, who goes by the name “Topiary” online, said Lulz Security planned to continue its campaign for some time and said he had no fears of being apprehended by the authorities. “Worrying is for fools!” Topiary told Mr. Chen when asked if he feared being caught.
Lulz Security has been pursued by government agencies around the world, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence Agency. Other hackers were also taking aim at the group’s members, saying they had gone too far with their activities.
E-mail and phone messages seeking comment from F.B.I. officials drew no immediate response.
Earlier this week, the British police arrested Ryan Cleary, a 19-year-old, charging him with illegally using a computer to perform denial-of-service attacks — bombarding Web sites with so many automated messages that they shut down. One of Mr. Cleary’s targets was said to have been the British Serious Organized Crime Agency, an attack that Lulz Security took credit for.
Lulz Security has claimed responsibility for hacking a number of sites over the past two months, including PBS.org, the United States Senate, the Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Web site of a company associated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Here is the full statement attributed to Lulz Security:
Friends around the globe,
We are Lulz Security, and this is our final release, as today marks something meaningful to us. 50 days ago, we set sail with our humble ship on an uneasy and brutal ocean: the Internet. The hate machine, the love machine, the machine powered by many machines. We are all part of it, helping it grow, and helping it grow on us.
For the past 50 days we’ve been disrupting and exposing corporations, governments, often the general population itself, and quite possibly everything in between, just because we could. All to selflessly entertain others — vanity, fame, recognition, all of these things are shadowed by our desire for that which we all love. The raw, uninterrupted, chaotic thrill of entertainment and anarchy. It’s what we all crave, even the seemingly lifeless politicians and emotionless, middle-aged self-titled failures. You are not failures. You have not blown away. You can get what you want and you are worth having it, believe in yourself.
While we are responsible for everything that The Lulz Boat is, we are not tied to this identity permanently. Behind this jolly visage of rainbows and top hats, we are people. People with a preference for music, a preference for food; we have varying taste in clothes and television, we are just like you. Even Hitler and Osama Bin Laden had these unique variations and style, and isn’t that interesting to know? The mediocre painter turned supervillain liked cats more than we did.
Again, behind the mask, behind the insanity and mayhem, we truly believe in the AntiSec movement. We believe in it so strongly that we brought it back, much to the dismay of those looking for more anarchic lulz. We hope, wish, even beg, that the movement manifests itself into a revolution that can continue on without us. The support we’ve gathered for it in such a short space of time is truly overwhelming, and not to mention humbling. Please don’t stop. Together, united, we can stomp down our common oppressors and imbue ourselves with the power and freedom we deserve.
So with those last thoughts, it’s time to say bon voyage. Our planned 50 day cruise has expired, and we must now sail into the distance, leaving behind — we hope — inspiration, fear, denial, happiness, approval, disapproval, mockery, embarrassment, thoughtfulness, jealousy, hate, even love. If anything, we hope we had a microscopic impact on someone, somewhere. Anywhere.
Thank you for sailing with us. The breeze is fresh and the sun is setting, so now we head for the horizon.
Let it flow…
Lulz Security — our crew of six wishes you a happy 2011, and a shout-out to all of our battlefleet members and supporters across the globe
Article source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/25/hacking-group-says-it-is-ending-spree/?partner=rss&emc=rss