Lulz hacks into US Senate computers
By David Howells
14/06/2011
Following on from the US Government's announcement that any security hacks would be treated as an "act of war", Lulz Security has done just that and broken into senate computers.
Lulz Security have hit the headlines recently with their hack into Sony's website, Fox News and the US Public Broadcasting System. The newest assault though is their most brazen and shows just how important systems management software is for protecting business computer infrastructure from such intrusions.
The organisation published files online but ensured they were not sensitive, meaning the group had not exposed any confidential material but did send a clear message that the computer systems had been hacked into. The most sensitive of the information released is the email address of the server's administrator Chris Vontz. Whilst the senate has not yet released an official statement, it has acknowledged that the group probably now knows their usernames and passwords.
The hack came just as CIA director Leon Panetta told the Daily Mail that a large-scale cyber attack which could take down power, finance, security and governmental systems was a "real possibility."
A Lulz Security press release was printed in The Guardian explaining: "We were responding to their allegations.
"We don't like the US government very much. This is a small, just-for-kicks release of some internal data from senate.gov - is this an act of war, gentlemen?"
