LulzSec Attacks UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency

After launching an anti-government campaign yesterday, the notorious LulzSec hacking outfit attacked the website of the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).

The hackers called on everyone with the know-how, enemies and friends alike, to hack online assets belonging to governments around the world in retaliation to increasing attempts of regulating and controlling the Internet.

Dubbed Operation Anti-Security, LulzSec campaign has already begun with the group launched a distributed denial of service attack against www.soca.gov.uk.

"Tango down - http://t.co/JhcjgO9 - in the name of #AntiSec. Later we'll unleash fire on multiple targets," the hacker group wrote on Twitter.

"DDoS is of course our least powerful and most abundant ammunition. Government hacking is taking place right now behind the scenes. #AntiSec," it later added.

This is not the first time when LulzSec has targeted the website of a governmental agency. Last week it attacked the website of the CIA "for lulz" in a show of defiance.

The group also hacked the Atlanta and Connecticut chapters of InfraGard, an organization with very close ties to the FBI and the government. LulzSec members later announced that they don't care if they are caught.

"LulzSec's anarchic activities are a thorn in the side of the computer crime authorities, and the irony of SOCA (whose staff investigate cybercrimes in the UK) being knocked out by an attack from the hacking gang will not be lost on anyone," Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, says.

It's likely that we'll see many more government websites attacked or defaced in upcoming days as independent hacker groups have announced support for LulzSec's campaign, including some that are anti-US and anti-NATO, like the Iranian Cyber Army.

The problem with this is that LulzSec's rebellious actions might appeal to teenagers who seen them as some kind of heroes. Joining such campaigns carry great risks, because they are based on illegal actions that can result in long prison sentences.