Slashdot Mirror
Authorities Closing On LulzSec
mask.of.sanity writes "The noose is tightening on hacker group LulzSec, according to a coordinated group of like-minded users, some from LulzSec-Exposed that claim to have uncovered the identity of LulzSec members and supplied them to the FBI. An arrest Monday of a UK teenager was rumoured to be former hacker scene member Ryan Clearly, and the trackers, which includes a former FBI agent, say this arrest is the first of many. They refused to disclose the identities of LulzSec chief, saying it would cause the members to burn the evidence of attacks and scatter."
The [propaganda] noose is tightening around LulzSec?
But publishing a news story about the arrests isn't going to cause the members to destroy evidence and scatter? Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.... Fuck.
Do it, do it now, they are on to you. No really, it's not just what they want you to think, they really mean it, your time is up, go to ground and never resurface again. Someone within your own organisation has outed you to the Feds, you can't trust any of them, scatter and break all contact with all your members, as any one of them could be the informant. They will get you if you remain organised.
Really, the FBI isn't afraid that capturing one alleged member of LulzSec won't cause the other members to bolt and hide the evidence, but disclosing the names will?
It's days like these I think elementary logic classes should be manditory.
If our elected representatives no longer represent us, do we still live in a Democracy?
There's a group of Japanese hackers who've been able to shut down businesses, infect users with rootkits and remotely remove functionality from consumer electronics.
They call themselves SONY or something...
"They refused to disclose the identities of LulzSec chief, saying it would cause the members to burn the evidence of attacks and scatter.""
Yes, because announcing you know his identity on the internet wont do that anyway will it?
Obviously not the sharpest tool in the box, such a comment doesn't instill much confidence that they have in fact got the right people.
Let's be honest, the LulzSec people will know if they've let their identity loose to anyone or not, if they have they'll already be watching their backs, if they haven't, then they'll know they have nothing to worry about. Doing what they're doing, attacking the targets they are means you're bound to recognise that keeping evidence around in the first place would be foolish.
They've been wardec'd...
This is unfortunate considering what lulzsec is currently doing for the IT job market. These attacks are getting incompetent people fired and making companies go out and look for competent people to hire in their place. Also, it is forcing them to actually invest money in their IT infrastructure instead of just slapping some servers together and letting some clowns straight out of a degree mill run them. People need to realize that this is a net good thing because if a 19 year old with no formal education is ripping servers owned by multi-billion dollar international corporations then the Chinese have already been there. A company would not even know about the Chinese intrusion much less publicize it once they found out so what lulzsec is doing is shining the light on how poorly these companies that hold your data are run.
1 you all are so uninformed lol what gives the first clue he really is lulzsec.
2 after seeing this they are either gonna go harder or move the op.
media is the reason y this is so big lol thousands have claimed to be anon and lulz the feds will arrest anyone they think is them with minor to no evidence
Suspected Goatse Link
...to the arrest of some random scapegoats for crimes they have not committed.
just say that 'we are not able to get to the real people in russia, china, and arresting pimpleface kids to save face'.
disgusting.
Read radical news here
What is all this media attention on LulzSec, it is kinda amusing. The character assassination of Ryan Clearly in the UK news is crazy. They have interviewed people in his road, called him a shut in and other things, I think i heard terrorist today as well. I have even had 2 family memebers call me up to disscuss lulzSec (my 60 year old mother), this whole story is dominating the news WHY? I have not seen rapists get this kind of media attention and character assassination. The fun thing is, Ryans Role is pretty clear, he was the IRC server host. That's it, so by extension the FBI and UK believe he is now part of Lulzsec. Well Ryan provided a medium for anyone to chat on his IRC server, Its like saying because Google link to the lulzsec page they too are in league with them. Just because someone supply's a medium and someone abuses it, it is not the fault of that person.
This is a massive PR thing and I wonder if LulzSec is government funded. Is it not strange that other hacking groups have been on the slow raise, now a Super hacking group has appeared to create waves just as the government wants to lock down the internet, LulzSec is now running operations with AnonOps maybe this is just one big government honey pot to pull the last reminding old school hackers and take them out in one go while also locking down the internet because of the evil goldstein sorry I mean LulzSec and their abuse of power.
tl:dr Ryan Clearly = IRC host and ScapeGoat, LulzSec could be the new goldstein (might be government placed to get access to other hacking groups), Governments are going to win whatever the outcome, Internet gets locked down and OR the hackers go to jail.
SIDE NOTE (YES I AM SHOUTING)
WHY ARE GOVERNMENT SYSTEMS WITH SENSITIVE DATA EVEN ON THE INTERNET? STOP USING THE PUBLIC NETWORK THAT WAS DESIGNED FOR SHARING INFORMATION AND ATTEMPT TO LIMIT IT TO CREATE YOUR OWN INTERNET> SERIOUSLY GET A PRIVATE NETWORK AND AMERICA STOP TRYING TO CONTROL IT.
i still have put thought into how the hell you might have concluded 'with most of Lulzsec being teenage kids' ...
in the end, i decided that you are a moron, else you wouldnt conclude the below without having enough information - which anyone cant have.
Read radical news here
So you mean I should lock the door on my house, because I'm incompetent if I want a community where I actually can keep it open?
Saying we need security people in every company to close down all that's possible to close down, is saying we want a structure where we need to safeguard everything. That's a bit strange, since we want the Internet to be open.
LulzSec claims that they do what they do because they want to harm to people trying to close down net. Well, the result of what LulzSec do is that we close our doors. Nice logic.
It's been obvious from the beginning that Lulzsec might be fickle in their targeting like anons, but that they are a coordinated group. That lends them a bit more power, but also means that despite their bravado they are connected. And since they're not thinking like terrorists, I doubt they have formed "cells" like any organization which doesn't want to fall quickly to a coordinated assault.
Maybe I don't give them enough credit and the IRC operator was careful to shield everyone and knows no one by name. But despite the publicity, and the fact that they have more skill than I, somehow I doubt they are true black hat masters. Braggarts are the most likely criminals to land in jail.
They make it sound like they keep hard copies of all of the hacks
"Governments are going to win whatever the outcome" - how will that happen with the root of the hacking scene now being in russia.
Read radical news here
Ok CmdrTaco, I let the "SpiderDASHman" error pass, but... CLEARLY?! with an L!?
I call bullshit until I see some actual devolpments. From the article: "LulzSec, in typical style, has laughed off the effort; and said the exposed details were pulled from low-level chat rooms used to recruit sub-crews, or "grunts". LulzSec operators remain free and anonymous, the group said, operating from "cells" in the UK. One tracker in contact with SC Australia refused to provide the names of the suspected LulzSec crew, fearing the group would scatter and "burn the evidence"."
In a shocking turn of events the Chinese Communist Party has just discovered that the leader of LulSec is none other than the renowned international terrorist the Dalai Lama. The Chinese government will be seeking his extradition to China to answer for his heinous crimes.
The majority of Slashdot readers are expected to cheer this victory for justice against the evils of hackerism.
As if the news coverage hasn't been enough to start the burning and scattering?
I use irony whenever I can, but my shirts are still wrinkled...
Ryan Clearly housed a lulz IRC chatroom. He has nothing to do with lulzsec.
Slashdot needs to interview Natalie Portman.
Yes Virginia, the companies generally know when they've been compromised. Really, it's only lack of integrity when you don't hear about it on the news.
"The noose is tightening around lulzsec. Trust me, I have sources." said a random blogger. In true slashdot fashion, no fact checking was done before the editors approved this story.
or they could just give us their names and addresses so we can f'ing destroy them. then nobody will do it again. it is this hide and seek bullshit that makes people continue to do this crap.
The FBI/CIA are trying to "put pressure" on them. From my knowledge of cheap detective and spy novels I'd say that you do that whenever you have no clue and want your opponent to make some moves that give you more data. Likely, the lulz boat underestimates the SIGINT capabilities of their adversaries, though. We'll see soon enough how much these agencies are willing to reveal about these capabilities -- probably more than they should, hehehe...
If they turned that into a movie, I'd totally watch it... P.s. If you're wondering where I got the 4.0 from, here's my list: Hackers (1995), Hackers 2 - Operation Takedown (2000), Hackers 3 - Antitrust (2001).
lulzsec are just going after low hanging fruit; they aren't using any script kitties or DNS attacks anyone else who actually reads a book and is interested in who the internet actually works. I am shock at the amount of people( a lot of who work in IT departments) who believe that you just connect two servers with a wire, then do that 100 more time as; they believe that's the internet.
I got my job just by correct defining DNS; they thought I was a genius, since at 20 I had no degree or certs.
"...They refused to disclose the identities of LulzSec chief, saying it would cause the members to burn the evidence of attacks and scatter."
If LulzSec even remotely suspected that the Feds were that close to them, the burning of the evidence has already happened.
Look, it isn't just Ryan. LSE posted kayla's identity as well. You may remember kayla from the HBGary anon hack.
Also: these guys aren't 16-year-old girls. They are IT professionals. Some of these hacks may have been possible because of insider information. That makes the hacks less impressive, but possibly more effective.
Something bad will come of all of this, like digital fingerprints attached to hardware and computer ownership registries like they have with firearms.
If you're going to hack, and want the recognition for your skilz, you can make a lot more money being a security consultant, effect a lot more positive change, and still get the lulz out of making in-house people look bad; and you can probably get the recognition at conferences and by blogging or writing books about your exploits.
You'll get fame, fortune, and amusement. All for doing what you are doing destructively, constructively. Otherwise you are just as evil as the organizations whose incompetency you are attempting to expose.
DRAMATICA, Wackyleeks, Wednesday (textfiles.com) — The noose is tightening on LulzSec, oh yes it is, with a red-handed capture nearly almost imminent, said FBI Media Liaison today, and don't you worry about that.
The drug-running terrorist paedophile probably-Chinese-government members of LulzSec have used their horrifying and "l33t" "Internet Relay Chat" skills (or "sk1llz0r," as "hackers" call them) to break into some of the most complicatedly protected computery gadget devices on the Inter-web-thing, particularly the ones running Microsoft Windows. Just like your computer does!!
"Fortunately," fed an off-the-record FBI source, "we have tracked down these dastardly fiends to their festering basement lairs, where they sit all day exchanging BitCoins via their 'four-channel' systems. Our agents are poised right now to swoop, swoop! upon these avatars of delinquency! Multiple US agencies are involved. They might be right outside!"
Authorities worry the "hackers" will get wind of the raids and scatter and burn the evidence. Repeat, the authorities don't want the group to scatter and burn the evidence. Just so that's clear with everyone.
LulzSec was formed by a group of Scientologists interested in Guy Fawkes. The group is named after "lulls," which is when the four-channel system goes quiet, and "sex," the availability of which would cause the group's immediate collapse.
Picture: Practice safe computing!
http://rocknerd.co.uk
I think I liked Sharks vs. Jets better. Better names.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
All's well that ends well. Still, as good as that news is, potentially, the real threat of US National Security still looms large and probably won't be realized until we are up against an all-out cyber shutdown/ grid-off/ massive rocket attack and that will spell the end. These malicious nuisances are a waste of time and resouces, but practice for the authorities if nothing else as the real enemies are poised lurking, skulking, crouching. E-N-D
The FBI etc are full of fools. But who are Lulz kidding? The FBI hires a LOT of very smart people too, as do the NSA etc.
All it takes is for a handful of those very smart people to set up a team to track the kids down...smart people with (nearly) unlimited resources getting paid to chase down some cocky kids and the lulz are gone.
To frame somebody with all this secrecy going on?
It takes a certain character (needing) to become a spook and same goes for the other side.....
Maybe it's just boredom, need for a purpose and stimulation?
I don't understand all the hate for lulz. As distasteful as some of their activities have been (DDOS == lame, publishing password files != cool) lulz enriched notes with ascii art still make me smile.
Whatever you think of lulz they are making people take security seriously...better a group of kids force people to fix their shit than a serious lulz deficient state actor working in anger.
look it up.
If they are closing in, why in the world would they announce it to the world. I mean seriously. Seems they are doing more barking to me than biting.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
Notice this isn't the FBI saying they are closing in. It's a group of narcs who claim this. Having their own little witch hunt. They better hope they have strong evidence against the people their accusing.
fbi on uk? wtf?
Spell-checkers running amok today. His name is "Ryan Cleary", without the 'l'. The linked story spells it both ways so they at least caught some of the auto-changes.
Hmmm... Internet anonymity - change name to something close to a common word and no one will ever be able to type your name correctly. Lessee... "Bob Teh". Heh.
I mean people use other people's buggy anonymizing technology. They hadnt invented it themselves nor deeply understand it, so are prone to discovery. And these people are often young, still in school or not in adult positions yet. Find more of a game challenge than a potentially dangerous activity.
I know young men on slashdot would wish that there really was some 16 year old girl superhacker goddess out there.
There may very well be but since the world loves female hackers they will likely be too worried about losing their college
scholarship to be doing lulzsec kind of pointless crap.
I wonder if Wikileaks would publish documents that exposed LulzSec.
The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers. I dont think that catching a few individuals will do much, if anything, the backlash may recruit more people into the ranks of Anonymous and LulzSec, and make them angrier.This is a classic insurgency and they are a real bitch to fight.
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
lulzsec claims man in UK wasnt part of Lulzsec
You can't form cells when you have that few people. I'm not sure how many people are in lulzsec, but all the indications I've seen is that it's less than ten and that includes the noobs who aren't even capable of going into the IRC without compromising themselves.
ObPython
I bought this house and you know I'm boss
Ain't no h'aint gonna run me off
I find the "get a private network" comment interesting. It is an opinion which will largely be ignored if you state it within an organisation and is unlikely to make a difference to the way that anything is run.
I'm not surprised by the comment - I made it myself until recently, however, its an area where you will not win the argument and it is because of what our industry is telling people. Our industry is influencing at senior levels in organisations for cloud based everything and managers (IT and none IT) are being told that the cloud is the right way to do things, open, accessible and someone else's problem. I don't really find it surprising that security breaches happen in this environment as you have a disconnect between those running the servers (that are concerned with the security of their hosting environment) and those writing the applications (that are concerned with the functionality of their applications).
In the pre-cloud computing model you had a middle layer where those teams met and argued security. Now I believe they meet less and less and those arguing security are seen as blocks to success and bypassed. I don't doubt that there are those IT teams who are hot on security who have had someone start to host an application in the cloud without them being aware of it? If people have then I suspect that noone is checking the application security and are either expecting the hosting company to do it or the developers,
>They refused to disclose the identities of LulzSec chief, saying it would cause the members to burn the evidence of attacks and scatter.
Just the fact they ran this story would make anyone within that group hesitant to continue as plan A and divert to plan b just for the sake of exercising precaution.
That's what i would do if i was in an international hacking group that was the cause of many downed servers....i would want to be 100% that i was not being traced.
My jack-off club, LulzJack, is still stroking away happily.
Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
can we please go back to the point when there was only one sinister anti-authoritarian hacker group.
Wake up editors!
Say you know someone that owes you a debt, and they are uneducated, and everyone knows they are fully uncapable of achieving anything what resembles LULzSec, and you ask them to surrender to the FBI claiming that they are a memer of LULzSec.
What will the FBI do? They think they are a decoy? Is it a hostage situation where a hostage is forced to claim to be the hostile force and that they are surrendering?
What do? WAT Dooooo?
DDOS does not count as being broken into. Show me some evidence the servers were broken into because I think you are spreading a myth or urban legend which isn't true.
CIA servers were DDOS'd. There is no definitive proof that the kid they arrested did it. The kid could have been framed.
It is almost as if authors didn't know that lulzsec already burns all evidence and is already scattered.
"...and here in this dark closet cleverly hidden behind david bowie poster I keep the still-sticky keyboard as well as a hard copy print out of the logs from the time i hacked into PSN"
Has anyone visited their page? 19 yr old hackers with "The Love boat" theme? somehow that doesnt seem right...
Good one: That truly got a chuckle outta me ( & I needed one).
APK
"They refused to disclose the identities of LulzSec chief, saying it would cause the members to burn the evidence of attacks and scatter."
Yeah, like this kind of media coverage will make the hackers feel like backing up their exploits in triplicate.
If they are any good, they won't have divulged their real names in IRC and will have connected through at least one proxy so the IP addresses in the logs will be useless.