While few really believed hacker group LulzSec had really disbanded, the group is back in action and has targeted media mogul Rupert Murdoch in its latest cyber assault.
The group redirected the homepage of the Murdoch-owned The Sun to a fake story about Murdoch's death from a drug overdose, which was located on another Murdoch-owned publication's Web site, The London Times.
According to reports, the number of page requests caused a failure on the Times site and LulzSec then redirected The Sun's homepage to the group's Twitter account (@LuzSec).
LulzSec tweeted last night: “Thank you for the love tonight. I know we quit, but we couldn't sit by with our wine watching this walnut-faced Murdoch clowning around.”
News Corp chairman and CEO Murdoch is still trying to recover from the scandal surrounding the closure of the News of the World tabloid, after the publication was accused of hacking the voicemail of a young murder victim.
The newspaper is also reported to have hacked the phones of family members whose relatives were killed in the London bombings of 2005.
Murdoch shut down the publication in an effort to salvage the reputation of News Corp. However, senior newspaper executives and law enforcement officials have since resigned in the wake of the scandal, and Murdoch is due to answer questions in the British Parliament.
Murdoch meltdown
The fake story posted by LulzSec was headlined “Media mogul's body discovered” and read: “Rupert Murdoch, the controversial media mogul, has reportedly been found dead in his garden, police announce.
“Murdoch, aged 80, has said to have ingested a large quantity of palladium before stumbling into his famous topiary garden late last night, passing out in the early hours of the morning.”
The story went on to say Murdoch's “favourite butler” had been taken in for questioning.
LulzSec provided continuous updates via its Twitter account and some posts included: “WE HAVE JOY WE HAVE FUN, WE HAVE MESSED UP MURDOCH'S SUN.”
“We are showing you a very small surface; the real damage is currently giving the admins heart attacks. ;)
“Oh, we forgot to mention that we sailed over to News International and wrecked them too. Nearing 300 000 followers... full steam ahead!”
More to come
The hacker group also reportedly posted a tap into internal Sun staff data, and hinted at more hacks to come: “We have owned Sun/News of the World - that story is simply phase 1 - expect the lulz to flow in coming days,” said a tweet.
When LulzSec announced an end to its month-long string of cyber attacks in June, it was understood that international hacker collective, Anonymous, had absorbed the group.
Lulz Security, however, claimed full responsibility for the hack on The Sun, tweeting: “This was the work of Lulz Security, dear media. We would like to give a shout-out to our bros at @AnonymousIRC though, we love those guys!”
Anonplus
Meanwhile, Anonymous has set up its own social network, www.anonplus.com. The new site is reportedly a reaction to the group's exclusion from Google's new social network, Google+.
“Welcome to the Revolution,” states a message on Anonplus. “A new social network where there is no fear...of censorship... of blackout... nor of holding back.”
The site also states the project will be ongoing and will “take many of those out there who simply want a better Internet”.
It is also emphasised that the site will be for everyone and “only takes the name anon because of the anonymity of the social network”.
The site, in its current form, is being used as a platform to announce the development teams behind the project as they are selected.
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