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The Dark Arts: Meet the LulzSec Hackers (hackaday.com)

Posted by timothy on from the bachelors-numbers-1-through-4 dept.

szczys writes: Reputations are earned. When a small group of hackers who were part of Anonymous learned they were being targeted for doxing (having their identities exposed) they went after the would-be doxxer's company, hard, taking down two of the company websites, the CEO's Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, and even his World of Warcraft accounts. The process was fast, professional, and like nothing ever seen before. This was the foundation of Lulz Security and the birth of a reputation that makes LulzSec an important part of black hat history. Good companion piece and update to some of our earlier posts about the hack; that would-be doxxer was Aaron Barr.

63 comments

  1. Lulzsec is an elite group? Since when? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lulzsec were a group of script kiddies who got caught because they made silly mistakes and their leader ratted them out...

    Hardly a hardcore group.

    1. Re:Lulzsec is an elite group? Since when? by hey! · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's a relative thing. Script kiddies are elite relative to Slashdot editors.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    2. Re:Lulzsec is an elite group? Since when? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The process was fast, professional, and like nothing ever seen before.

      What a complete load of crap.

    3. Re:Lulzsec is an elite group? Since when? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "doxing"

      Who comes up with this shit?

      Hunt them down and kill them.

    4. Re:Lulzsec is an elite group? Since when? by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 1

      The process was fast, professional, and like nothing ever seen before.

      What a complete load of crap.

      Indeed. They got caught.

      --
      I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  2. what's this hyping? by kwoff · · Score: 1

    Book coming out, movie?

    1. Re:what's this hyping? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Black Hat II - For the Lulz

    2. Re:what's this hyping? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The new sequel: KekSec - The Kekkening

  3. Professional? by Sowelu · · Score: 2

    Yeah, I don't think I'd characterize anything like this as "professional".

  4. Re:timothy still working for new overlords? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Timmy! is the elitist of hackers, he makes Cowboy Neal look like Zero Cool.

  5. So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They counter-doxxed and hacked someone. Did that stop them from getting doxxed and arrested? If not, then big fucking deal. They still got owned. Owning him doesn't change that. And since they were the ones who were supposed to be anonymous, then:

    Aaron Barr: owned
    Lulsec: still owned and secret identities exposed to boot.

    In the Grand Battle of the Douchebags:
    Barr: 2 Lulsec: 1

    1. Re:So what? by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

      But they hacked his WoW account!

    2. Re:So what? by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      But they hacked his WoW account!

      Damn, that would certainly ruin my entire life and cause me to spiral into a deep depression, culminating in madness and suicide. If I had a WoW account.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    3. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Damn, that would certainly ruin my entire life and cause me to spiral into a deep depression, culminating in madness and suicide. If I had a WoW account.

      You do now... ANNND we've just shut it down! Booya!

    4. Re:So what? by tnk1 · · Score: 2

      Since an MMO like that keeps moving the goalposts, maintaining his character probably felt more like a job than his job. So losing his account could either mean he contemplated suicide, or alternately he blinked, looked around, and realized that perhaps he should shower, shave, and dust five years worth of Cheetos dust off himself and he lived happily ever after.

      Seriously, when they created Daily Tasks... I mean Daily Quests, it confirmed to me that I was sitting in a hamster wheel where I was logging in to do the same thing every day, so that I could get fake gold so that I could buy a fake item which they would proceed to nerf in the next patch and render completely quaint and obsolete in the next expansion. While you're running through new content and exploring stuff, it's pretty fun. And that lasts about a month and then you're back to farming shit.

      So, odds are even that they actually saved him from madness and suicide.

    5. Re:So what? by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      So losing his account could either mean he contemplated suicide, or alternately he blinked, looked around, and realized that perhaps he should shower, shave, and dust five years worth of Cheetos dust off himself and he lived happily ever after.

      I kind of felt that way when I quit WoW on my own accord.

      Or rather, it felt nice not having to make excuses to not go out 4 nights of the week because I was too embarrassed to admit that the real reason I didn't want to go out was because my raiding guild required 80% attendance. And that was even for what was a casual raiding guild that only did about 12 hours a week; I can't imagine what it must be like to go with a "hardcore" raiding guild that does 25+ hours a week (strangely enough, such a guild was only barely ahead of our guild in raid progression.)

      I'm not sure why I did it for as long as I did either, because I really didn't care for PvE, and I originally joined WoW for PvP.

    6. Re: So what? by IBME · · Score: 0

      My god, I knew gamers could be pathetic but didn't think they came in droves. How truly pathetic.

    7. Re: So what? by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      My god, I knew gamers could be pathetic but didn't think they came in droves. How truly pathetic.

      There's a lot that could be said on this topic, but I hear you. I think many of these games foster a certain non-social behavior to drive the "engagement" metric, and for whatever reason, many people flock to this shit.

      I used to get on my son for spending hours "collecting colored pixels" because it all seemed like such a waste of time. He grew out of most of it after he realized that he had nothing -ZERO- to show for all the time he'd spent in various games. NOTHING whatsoever to show for it except a lack of real friends. Nuh-Thing.

      And he kind of woke up one day and said, "WTF am I doing??" He still plays a little here and there, but now it's mostly just a distraction for him, not the central focus of his life.

      So you're a level 937-Uber-Mage with Expanded Bimbo Powers and a Magic Bottomless Supper Dish, so fucking what? Can you put that on your resume? Will ANYONE ever be impressed by that except for level 936-Uber-Mages? Is that what you're going to have inscribed on your tombstone?

      I find the whole thing odd, but on the other hand if that's what people want to do, more power to 'em. They're not hurting anyone (well, except maybe themselves) so I'm happy that they can do something they enjoy and have at least the illusion of being "friends" with other "people". (None of those "friends" would really give a fuck if they heard that a guild member had actually died in a horrible fire, but still, for some people it's better than zoning out in front of the TV every night, right?)

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    8. Re: So what? by IBME · · Score: 0

      Hey Halo 3 Online is a free download. https://www.reddit.com/r/HaloO.... I don't have a joystick so I'll probably do something else.

    9. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      80% attendance? 4-5 days a week of raiding?

      That's not casual.

    10. Re: So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To be fair, it does represent a substantial time commitment, some focus, and some discipline.

      And relatively little expense compared to playing in a band, hunting, or racing.

    11. Re:So what? by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      The guild I was in was Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and then 3 hours each day except when content was on farm we'd finish early on Sunday, (Tuesday is reset day) so anywhere from 7-12 hours a week. At any rate, they were all nights that you had to go to work the next day so you weren't going out late anyways, but still annoying after a while.

      The non-casual guilds meanwhile had a typical schedule of 5 hours per day for Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

    12. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, I'm sorry, but your definition of casual is raiding almost every day?? (or night, if you prefer to put it that way...)

      Uh-uh. In my book, casual raiding is far more laidback, maybe one night of raiding a week, possibly two, with a third for old content larks.

    13. Re:So what? by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      No, I'm sorry, but your definition of casual is raiding almost every day?? (or night, if you prefer to put it that way...)

      Since your Broca's area is obviously made out of dog shit, let me put it in more direct terms: I pretty clearly stated it was 4 days at the start of a raid tier, and 3 days afterwards. That isn't anywhere close to being every day.

      with a third for old content larks.

      We didn't even do old content. Once a new raid tier came out, we completely abandoned the last tier.

    14. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since your Broca's area is obviously made out of dog shit, let me put it in more direct terms: I pretty clearly stated it was 4 days at the start of a raid tier, and 3 days afterwards. That isn't anywhere close to being every day.

      Then modify it to "almost every other day" if you prefer that expression. You're still raiding considerably more than a casual raiding group. And 4 days versus the 5 days other raiders were doing? Not casual, sorry, no matter how much you want to believe it.

      You may not have been a cutting edge progression raider, but you were not casual. Not casual. Not casual. Not casual. Not casual. Not casual. Not casual. Not casual. Not casual.

      You don't have to call yourself hardcore, but don't call yourself casual.

      We didn't even do old content. Once a new raid tier came out, we completely abandoned the last tier.

      Good thing I wasn't talk about you, I was talking about "in my book" rather than yours. A lot of people do old raiding, all the way back to the stuff one top-level character can walk through now. (Exceptions apply to certain boss mechanics unless they get tweaked as sometimes happens.) This became a lot more common after cosmetics were enabled. I really liked the Tier 2 Paladin myself. And the pets that dropped. Some of them were fun.

    15. Re:So what? by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      Then modify it to "almost every other day" if you prefer that expression. You're still raiding considerably more than a casual raiding group. And 4 days versus the 5 days other raiders were doing? Not casual, sorry, no matter how much you want to believe it.

      Honestly why are you so retarded? Even 4 out of 7 days in a week is just over half, not "almost every" by any measure, and a typical week was 3, which is less than half, even further removed from "almost every." Also this is past tense, I haven't done any raiding in over 4 years, and for the most part haven't even touched the game since then (only played for all of about 4 months within that 4 year span, and it wasn't even a continuous 4 months.)

      You may not have been a cutting edge progression raider, but you were not casual. Not casual. Not casual. Not casual. Not casual. Not casual. Not casual. Not casual. Not casual.

      Stop with the faggotry please; you're not fooling anybody.

    16. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Honestly why are you so retarded? Even 4 out of 7 days in a week is just over half, not "almost every" by any measure, and a typical week was 3, which is less than half, even further removed from "almost every."

      Why are you so indignant? I already offered to modify it to "almost every other day" if you preferred that expression. Is there some other phrasing you'd prefer? Do you insist on "almost half the week" then? Is that what you want?

      Also this is past tense, I haven't done any raiding in over 4 years, and for the most part haven't even touched the game since then (only played for all of about 4 months within that 4 year span, and it wasn't even a continuous 4 months.)

      Yes, I'm sure this is in the past, which makes me wonder why you're getting so worked up over it.

      It's like you want to call yourself a casual raider so much, you still feel like insisting upon its appellation even when it's in the past.

      Stop with the faggotry please; you're not fooling anybody.

      Exactly how am I trying to fool anybody? What exactly would I want to fool you about anyway?

    17. Re: So what? by darniil · · Score: 1

      Eh, it's just a hobby, like anything else.

      None of us leave here alive, and in the end no hobbies amount to anything. Stamp collecting, hiking, logic puzzles, programming, building models, flying RC planes, surfing, falconry, (video/card/board) games - they're all things that people do to pass the time when they're not working or taking care of other necessities. Most people do these things because they enjoy them, because hobbies help people relax and unwind.

      Yeah, some people forget that and keep doing them even when those hobbies have lost all enjoyment, but video games aren't unique in that. That your son stopped "collecting colored pixels" doesn't mean the hobby is bad, just that your son stopped enjoying it. I stopped collecting comic books because the stories no longer entertained me. Different hobbies, but pretty much the same motivation for leaving them.

    18. Re: So what? by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      Wise words, and well said.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  6. Where legal systems fail, vigilantism thrives by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Since "doxing" is still ignored by our juridical system, people who can help themselves will do so.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Where legal systems fail, vigilantism thrives by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Kinda.

      I recall when Anonymous attempted a campaign against Mexican druglords, and promptly changed their tune when faced with an organization that had no compulsions with killing to make their point. Anonymous is very selective in the targets they choose, mostly relating to people who either by law or reputation can't respond in kind. That isn't quite a failure of the legal system but more low level attacks puffing themselves to be more relevant that they are.

      LulzSec are at best an irritation with actual criminals having the good sense to operate more covertly.

    2. Re:Where legal systems fail, vigilantism thrives by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      Usually when I think of Anonymous, this is what I really think of:

      http://i.imgur.com/Wng3qhv.jpg

  7. Is any of this new? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Didn't this all happen awhile ago? I learned nothing new from reading the article and Wikipedia and other sites are more informative

  8. Actually by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Real elite hackers don't get arrested, this was like the "Keeping up with the Kardashians" hackers.

    1. Re: Actually by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So Kevin mitnick wasn't a real elite hacker?

  9. A Part Of 'Anonymous'? by rtb61 · · Score: 1

    From what I understand no one can be a part of 'Anonymous', you are whom ever you are and part of what ever group is participating and only conducting that political activist activity temporarily under the guise of 'Anonymous'. Any activity you participate it is your own responsibility and does not carry over to any other activity by others conducting their own political activist activity temporarily under the guise of 'Anonymous'(in terms of RICO a popular US interpretation of various activities, the crimes of one group most definitely does not carry over to the legal activities of another group). Of course being an inherently anarchist group, consensus rules or not ;). So in the case of Lulzsec and by far the bulk of their activities, the majority where just patsies to get the cowardly SABU a reduced sentence and were minors when they were target and groomed for criminal activities and this under the criminal direction and sponsorship of the FBI. This activity especially criminal when conducted illegally across international borders. Something for which the participating FBI agents and the cowardly SABU have yet to be prosecuted as in most sound countries it is considered child abuse to groom minors into criminal activity. Instead of rescuing those minors from psychological abuse, those criminal agents decided to build their careers upon the crippling of the future of those minors, those victims, really quite distasteful behaviour. A shame they so soiled the honour of all those others who serve with integrity.

    --
    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  10. Wasn't the HBGary attack not a hack? by timrod · · Score: 2

    From what I recall, the attack on HBGary was actually clever social engineering, emailing one of the secretaries for one of the executives pretending to be a high-up who needed his password reset. All they really did was use the stolen login credentials to get the emails and other data off HBGary's servers and then deface their website. The subsequent "hacks" were the result of Barr using a universal password.

    1. Re:Wasn't the HBGary attack not a hack? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Social engineering is fundamental to hacking and universal passwords are both a joy and common. Go do the same and get back to me. Posting AC for the first time.

    2. Re:Wasn't the HBGary attack not a hack? by wjcofkc · · Score: 1

      A secretary having the ability to reset passwords, especially at a security company is mind blowing. While I've never heard it that way, I am not saying you are misinformed. But if they had his password reset that means they didn't know any passwords to begin with. If one password reset led to computer\domain access and he had a file with his actual and now former domain password, and he was the CEO of a "security" company...? Damn that's dumb. I almost wrote "encrypted file" but I would not even have an encrypted file with passwords.

      --
      Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
    3. Re:Wasn't the HBGary attack not a hack? by clonehappy · · Score: 1

      Remind me to change the combination on my luggage.

    4. Re:Wasn't the HBGary attack not a hack? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Use 54321. Nobody will ever guess that.

    5. Re:Wasn't the HBGary attack not a hack? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      From what I remember:
      1) Compromised some crappy custom website front end that exposed unsalted MD5 hashes
      2) obtained some passwords
      3) one of those passwords was re-used by an exec that had admin privs to their gmail system
      4) changed CEO's password and logged in
      5) examined CEO's email, then used CEO's account to request one of their website admins to reset the website password
      6) owned the website

      A humorous series of poor security checks.

    6. Re:Wasn't the HBGary attack not a hack? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      damn, I only have 3 digits otherwise I would

    7. Re:Wasn't the HBGary attack not a hack? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Posting AC for the first time.

      Pull the other one.

  11. Aaron Barr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isn't he the guy who shot Alexander Hamilton?

    1. Re:Aaron Barr by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, though arguably both were traitors.

  12. These groups are no one to glorify... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: They're largely "script kiddies" & imo @ least, don't even FIT the 1 good thing I have to say about hacker/cracker types:

    THEY DO 1 GOOD THING (alongside security researchers): THEY POINT OUT WHERE THE "BUGS" IN SECURITY or WARES + OS ARE (but that's about the ONLY good thing I have to say about "the bad guys" (security researchers aren't included there though)).

    * I am surprised /. even gave them the time of day for an article post - if anything, that emboldens & empowers them, the WRONG thing to do I feel!

    APK

    P.S.=> Anyhow/anyways - there's my "rant" on them, such as it is... apk

    1. Re:These groups are no one to glorify... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      APK is
      Always
      Pathetic
      Kid.

  13. APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

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    1. Re: APK Hosts File Engine 9.0++ SR-4 32/64-bit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No offense, but from the way you advertise it it seems like a pile of crap.

  14. Re:If only... by Noah+Haders · · Score: 1

    Maybe they created that virus? Or maybe it was NK?

  15. Those "LulzSec Hackers" are just criminals by jopet · · Score: 1

    I fail to see the fascination with that bunch of adolescent bullies and criminals that call themselves "Anonymous" in general or LulzSec in particular. They are assholes who think being a modern-times cyber lynch-mob makes them heroes.
    I hope the FBI gets them and they end up where they belong: in jail.

    1. Re:Those "LulzSec Hackers" are just criminals by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      uh, sabu was a hacker who was nabbed by fbi, turned, and at the direction of fbi started ananomous.

      that is how you find and and monitor subversivsive elementents inthe population.
      arab spring was foing on at the time. feds ran an op.
      sus out the pititneital trouble makeers. make an exaple.

      movie: war of the hackers

      btw: i understand yoiur poiint of view. stop watching "then news - t.v." and believing what uyou info you get from corporoate/government sources.

    2. Re: Those "LulzSec Hackers" are just criminals by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you kidding me? Who wrote this? Timothy is that you?

    3. Re: Those "LulzSec Hackers" are just criminals by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Go hack some spell check for yourself.

  16. /. users that know otherwise... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "his hosts program is actually pretty good" - by xenotransplant (4179011) on Monday August 10, 2015 @03:34PM (#50287195)

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    "Actually, APK is totally right on this count. Adblock Plus on Firefox mobile is a dog on older, or lower end, phones. A hostfile based adblocker makes for a much better experience in this context. Of course, your phone has to be rooted, which isn't the case with Firefox + adblock." - by chihowa (366380) on Saturday May 16, 2015 @11:40AM (#49705641)

    "his hosts tool is actually useful for those cases in which one does indeed want to locally block stuff outright while consuming minimum system resources" by alexgieg (948359) on Friday September 25, 2015 @09:57AM (#50596461)

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    1. Re: /. users that know otherwise... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I used to get into the hosts ad blocking, until I saw this asshole on /. constantly spamming about it. No host editing prevents the spam from apk.

    2. Re: /. users that know otherwise... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Prove Apk's points validly wrong then. He's on topic. You're not. Same every time. Trolls like you run out of mod points you use up down modding apk who runs you out of then. Then you come out of the woodwork trolling off topic with illogical ad hominem attacks crying like the bitches you are.

  17. LulzSec frontman Sabu was FBI informant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    LulzSec frontman Sabu was FBI informant:

    This kills me. Slashdot taken over by ???.
    BS Propaganda will probably be the the main theme now.

    http://www.zdnet.com/article/l...!

    http://www.zdnet.com/article/l...!

    http://boingboing.net/2012/03/...

  18. Caught !!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    they were caught in the end, weren't they ? bunch of wannabees.