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Could LulzSec actually be working for the Government to help create that "civilized" Internet Sarkozy was talking about. They've certainly created the "worst ca

Could LulzSec actually be working for the Government to help create that "civilized" Internet Sarkozy was talking about. They've certainly created the "worst case scenarios" that politicians can point to now. But the most surprising thing about them is how confident they are they won't be caught. Can they really be that sure that they will never be caught doing these attacks? Or are they just reckless? But if they are for real, it might be understandable if they actually had a cause, and a good one. Doing it for the lulz, doesn't seem like a very good cause, and it's only going to give politicians more ammo to restrict the Internet because of "these crazy hackers" that prove the Internet is very "chaotic". At least when Anonymous attacks they have a pretty good cause, that could actually be supported by most of the public. LulzSec attacks are getting less and less defensible, and maybe even suspicious.

fragsworth 15y ago
The crazy thing is (I believe) large botnets are worth a lot of money on the black market. It makes no sense that they would waste their network to take down government websites "for the lulz". Something is missing about the situation.
- EricR23 15y ago
  I don't think something has to be missing here. My experience tells me otherwise, that many botnet ops go for fun and profit and it's not so strictly "just business".
- ImperatorLunae 15y ago
  PR firms don't plant news stories about botnets; actually using botnets to take down high-profile targets does. In that case, the publicity could translate into dollars.
Hawramani 15y ago
This has been mentioned frequently. Whether it is the case or not, we can do little more than donate a few bucks to the likes of Demand Progress and EFF.
jerf 15y ago
"Recklessness", in particular due to youth, is a plausible scenario. ISTM that attack surfaces have been growing faster than our capability or willingness to secure them. LulzSec is scoring a lot of websites but has not uniformly gotten access to a lot of really valuable data, only sometimes. Hacking websites isn't really that hard. Especially if you're just shopping around the net for vulnerabilities and then announcing what you hit post-facto (a "called shot" would be a bit more impressive). This is well within reach of invincible-feeling teens. It's a statement about the poor level of security we have; this stuff really is way easier than it should be.
GHFigs 15y ago
They've certainly created the "worst case scenarios" that politicians can point to now. Briefly DDOSing a government website is not a "worst case scenario" by anybody's reckoning.
- nateberkopec 15y ago
  But the politicians will make it seem like it is. These are the kind of people that thought "hacking the Internet" in The Core was a plausible scenario.

fragsworth 15y ago

The crazy thing is (I believe) large botnets are worth a lot of money on the black market. It makes no sense that they would waste their network to take down government websites "for the lulz". Something is missing about the situation.

EricR23 15y ago
I don't think something has to be missing here. My experience tells me otherwise, that many botnet ops go for fun and profit and it's not so strictly "just business".
ImperatorLunae 15y ago
PR firms don't plant news stories about botnets; actually using botnets to take down high-profile targets does. In that case, the publicity could translate into dollars.

Hawramani 15y ago

This has been mentioned frequently. Whether it is the case or not, we can do little more than donate a few bucks to the likes of Demand Progress and EFF.

jerf 15y ago

"Recklessness", in particular due to youth, is a plausible scenario. ISTM that attack surfaces have been growing faster than our capability or willingness to secure them. LulzSec is scoring a lot of websites but has not uniformly gotten access to a lot of really valuable data, only sometimes. Hacking websites isn't really that hard. Especially if you're just shopping around the net for vulnerabilities and then announcing what you hit post-facto (a "called shot" would be a bit more impressive). This is well within reach of invincible-feeling teens. It's a statement about the poor level of security we have; this stuff really is way easier than it should be.

GHFigs 15y ago

They've certainly created the "worst case scenarios" that politicians can point to now. Briefly DDOSing a government website is not a "worst case scenario" by anybody's reckoning.

nateberkopec 15y ago
But the politicians will make it seem like it is. These are the kind of people that thought "hacking the Internet" in The Core was a plausible scenario.