[Rin on...] Her Introduction to LulzSec

LulzSec Logo

     LulzSec is easily my latest internet obsession. Rather, the latest thing that has gotten my attention. Wikipedia defines them as a "gray hat" hacker organization that did this and that. However, LulzSec themselves despise to be labeled in such a manner, and, I quote: 

"We aren't hacktivists, whitehats, greyhats or blackhats - categorizing deflates the lulz lizard creativity lasers."

     I think perhaps, that quote says more than I possibly could on the matter. LulzSec, short for Lulz Security, first got my attention when they hacked Sony. They then did it five more times. They did this in response to Sony's lawsuit against PS3-hacker, George Hotz, which I'll blog about within the next few days (late as it may be).

     Needless to say, my attention had been garnered, as I myself own a PS3. At the time, I didn't know much about the group, nor did I see the "lulz" in the matter--merely felt mild annoyance at PSN being down. A few more weeks would go by before they caught my attention yet again. It all started when for some illogical, nostalgic reason, I got back on twitter. This prompted much "catching up" on the internet world, and found myself acquainted with LulzSec's own Twitter stream. Now, finally, I was understanding the lulz.
     I decided to "follow" them on the perfect day. It was Titanic Takedown Tuesday. I watched with childish glee as they ransacked the Escapist website (of which I'm a member), EVE Online, Minecraft, and League of Legends. I won't mention why I found the latter particularly amusing. They did this using basic DDoS attacks, most on request from fans on their hotline. Yes folks, LulzSec has a hotline you can call to request websites for them to attack. Also, their commentary on each DDoS was more amusing than the last.

"We're firing at Escapist Magazine with around 0.4% of our total ammunition. Let's see what their admins are made of - game is on, folks."

     Each attack brought more angry nerd rage on various forums across the magical land of the internet. I, despite my best intentions to remain a mature, neutral observer, lulzed along with LulzSec. After watching their work in real-time, I was prompted to research them more thoroughly. I learned of their previous hacks, even stumbled across their long-awaited raison d'être. I learned of their hack on Fox, on PBS (claiming Tupac was still around) and more seriously, the CIA and FBI. The latter two claim nothing of importance was stolen, but you can view their releases and decide for yourself if it's anything worthwhile. They've attacked porn sites, an IT security company FinFisher, Black & Berg Cybersecurity Consulting, Bethesda, and have been redirecting their telephone number to different customer support lines, including the line for World of Warcraft, magnets.com, and the FBI Detroit office.
     Needless to say, how you view their shenanigans is entirely subjective. I myself find it rather amusing, but in the long run, one must realize that their ability to pick holes in otherwise "secure" websites brings to attention our lack of internet security. Whether you don't care about this sort of thing or it makes you stop and rethink your passwords all being set as password123, they're bringing the issue to the forefront with each day they sail the Lulz Boat. They're making us, the average citizen, realize that internet security is a serious matter, if not for our personal websites, then for those websites we place so much valuable information on.

     So, in some ways, we should thank LulzSec--either for the lulz or for making us and internet-based companies rethink the issue of internet security.