After almost two months of cyber-attacks on dozens of targets, hacker collective Lulzsec declare that they have disbanded. The group have claimed responsibility for the data theft and denial of service attacks on a number of gaming websites, including Minecraft, Eve Online, Codemasters, Bethesda, Sony and Nintendo, and even claim to have targeted government sites like Senate.gov.
In a final statement , Lulzsec declared that the 50th day marked the end of their attacks, and leaked a final salvo of illegally obtained information, including details of hundreds of thousands of Battlefield Heroes accounts.
Battlefield Heroes was taken offline over the weekend as a result of the security breach, which say thousands of user names and passwords stolen from EA's databases. In an official statement, EA say that "No emails, account history, credit card numbers or payment methods" were compromised, but it's a good idea to change your Battlefield Hereos password if you have one.
Lulzsec's end comes a week after the arrest of Ryan Cleary , who was suspected of being involved with the group. Earlier this week Lulzsec themselves were hacked by a group calling themselves The A-Team, who released Lulzsec members' personal information and chat logs onto the Internet.
In spite of this, Lulzsec insist to the Associated Press that it was boredom, not fear, that prompted them to stop the operation. "We're not quitting because we're afraid of law enforcement," they say, "The press are getting bored of us, and we're getting bored of us." They also claim that they always intended the cyber-crime spree to last 50 days.
The statement said that "the raw, uninterrupted, chaotic thrill of entertainment and anarchy" was the main motivation for the attacks, along with a desire to resurrect AntiSec. "we truly believe in the AntiSec movement." they say in their final statement. "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."
It's possible that Lulzsec's members will continue hacking as part of Anonymous under the banner of the AntiSec movement, which is dedicated to bringing down internet security firms. The A-Team statement questions the hackers' methods, saying that "by releasing their hacks they are forcing these companies to have to hire security professionals which keeps the Security Industry that they are trying to expose and shut down, in business."
Still, whatever happens next, the end of Lulzsec might give us all a rest from having to reset our gaming account passwords every few days.
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