Case Study: The Lulz Sec Hackers
A New York City public housing project hardly looked like a place where someone could disrupt the activities of government agencies or corporations around the world. Yet in the midst of that obscure neighborhood, the Federal Bureau of Investigation showed up one morning to place under arrest a masterful hacker, Hector Xavier Monsegur, known in hacking circles as “Sabu.” Months after his arrest in 2011, Sabu became an informant, exposing the inner workings and structure of the hacker group known as “Lulz Sec,” which means laughable security. Federal prosecutors described Sabu as an “influential” member of the Lulz Sec organization.
Lulz Sec is a splinter faction of “Anonymous,” a disparate group of hackers or hacktivists comprised primarily of young men ranging in age from their late teens to early 30s. In 2008, Anonymous initiated a DoS attack against the Church of Scientology because of its obsessive efforts to keep its online data secret. Because Anonymous members believe strongly in the old internet value of free-flowing information, the group was sympathetic to WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange after he released thousands of confidential documents about U.S. military security. Anonymous hacked the websites of businesses that terminated their relations with WikiLeaks after this incident occurred. Among these companies were MasterCard, Visa, and PayPal (owned by eBay). Lulz Sec also hacked into the computers of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) after it aired an unsympathetic Frontline exposition about WikiLeaks. And in the spring of 2011, Lulz Sec disabled the Central Intelligence Agency’s website for a short time—though, according to the Agency, no classified data were compromised.
In addition to disabling websites and denying online service, Lulz Sec also filches computer files. After hacking into the computers of Sony Pictures, it stole the personal information of about 100,000 customers. It also seized the personal data of 200,000 users of the video game Brink, which is a product of Bethesda Software.
Lulz Sec has justified its highly publicized attacks as a vivid means of exposing security holes in the computer systems of government agencies and corporations. They have aimed to show that the strong security safeguards proclaimed by corporations and government agencies are no more than a fleeting illusion. However, group members also admit they do this for the fun of it. “This is the Internet,” one of them said, “where we screw each other over for a jolt of satisfaction.”
While law enforcement officials point to its pernicious effects, hacktivism has supporters who consider this activity to be a valid form of online protest and even civil disobedience. Although not necessarily endorsing all the tactics of groups like Anonymous, hacktivist apologists applaud their creativity and ingenuity. They see value in protesting the treatment of organizations like WikiLeaks. Others regard hacktivists as providing an invaluable service by exposing security deficiencies so they can be properly repaired. Support for hacktivism sometimes comes from unlikely places Father Antonio Spadaro, writing for Civiltà Cattolica, a publication sponsored by the Vatican, approvingly characterized the hacker philosophy as “playful but committed, encouraging creativity and sharing, and opposing models of control, competition and private property.
On the other hand, hacktivism is not typical of civil disobedience, which involves peacefully protesting unjust laws while willing to suffer the consequences of one’s actions. Hackers are anonymous, elude law enforcement officials, and often cause damage to systems that they infect with worms and viruses. The favorite tactic of “doxing,” finding embarrassing personal information about someone and disclosing it online, has the potential to be extremely damaging. It’s one thing to protest the actions of a government agency or corporation, but it’s quite another thing to pick on one or two executives and expose the personal details of their lives. This tactic could inadvertently bring harm not only to them but to their families and associates, innocent third parties who have nothing to do with the behavior under assault by the hackers.
The Lulz Sec group has dispersed for now, but hacktivism will surely live on and continue to be a source of interest and controversy.
Questions:
What is your opinion about hacktivism? is this ethical? Why? Why not?
What are your thoughts about hacktivists exposing goverment vulnernabilites and secrets?
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