Lulzsec hacks The Sun
By David Howells
19/07/2011
'Hacktivist' group Lulzsec appear to have come out of retirement to attack The Sun website.
The group - thought to be in retreat after high profile attacks on Sony and Nintendo, among others - announced the hack on their Twitter feed, boasting: "We have joy we have fun, we have messed up Murdoch's Sun."
Lulzsec are known for their high profile attacks on large businesses with lacklustre security. They have become known for using the attacks to highlight both a company's commercial wrongdoing and their weak security infrastructure. It is thought that in the wake of the attacks, numerous businesses have looked to systems management software to stop themselves becoming the next victims.
The front page of The Sun's website was hacked to re-direct to a news story reporting the death of media mogul and owner of News International, Rupert Murdoch. The story continued with reports of Murdoch poisoning himself in an apparent suicide attempt.
Reprinted on The Telegraph, the story read: "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."
Once News International became aware of the attack they tried to close the page down, although Lulzsec still retained the upper hand, directing visitors instead to their own Twitter account.
Normal service has since resumed at the site, but not before Lulzsec discovered email addresses, passwords and telephone numbers of high profile editors at the News International papers. The group has already unveiled some and plans to do more in the coming days. Early reports also suggested the News International, Times and Sunday Times websites were also hacked but it is now thought they were taken down from the inside as a precautionary measure.
