It appears that LulzSec is going into retirement. This weekend the hacking collective dropped a release stating their departure from causing mayhem on the internet. The group does make it very clear that they wish for the AntiSec movement that they brought back, hand in hand with Anonymous, to live on despite their departure.
The statement almost seems contradictory first saying,
"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."
Later in the same release LulzSec claims that they feel strongly about the AntiSec movement and hope that it will continue even without their involvement. The group goes so far as to say they hope this movement has an impact, which seems to go starkly against their "in it for the lulz" mentality.
"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."
With the statement came a massive dump of personal data that LulzSec has acquired. Among the released information is personal data for hundreds of thousands of users as well as internal data from both AOL and AT&T. I suppose you can't blame them for wanting to go out with a bang.
While LulzSec is busy enjoy their retirement it seems that Anonymous might be gearing up to pick up the slack. About a day after LulzSec announced they were leaving the hack game, Anonymous released a dump that included an "anti-cyberterrorism" manual. ABC news reviewed the released ISO and also found the following items:
"Many documents and links to security and hacking resources that are freely available on the internet.
Lists of FBI bureau addresses throughout the USA.
Stock letters on how to officially request user information from Internet Service Providers and obtain warrants.
Numerous hacking and counter-hacking tools."
The Anonymous Twitter account is promising a larger release, the contents of which are currently unknown. The group's news site is also back up after at least a week of downtime.
This weekend's activity leaves a few questions unanswered. Is this really the end of LulzSec or just a ruse? Is Anonymous stepping back into the limelight? Will other groups come forward to follow through with Operation AntiSec? It will be interesting to see how this develops in the coming weeks.
