LulzSec quits being LulzSec, Jumps (back) onto Anonymous

LulzSec, the high-profile hacker group that dominated the attention of media and social media alike, has surprised its fans and enemies by announcing its game over, that they will shut down operations. June 25 would mark an end to 50 days of cyber havoc, but the group called on supporters to continue fighting its anti-government movement via Anonymous.

It's time to say "bon voyage," the group stated.

"We are Lulz Security, and this is our final release, as today marks something meaningful to us," said LulzSec in a statement released on June 25.

"While we are responsible for everything that The Lulz Boat is, we are not tied to this identity permanently," the group said.

"For the past 50 days we've been disrupting and exposing corporations, governments, often the general population itself, and quite possibly everything in between, just because we could. All to selflessly entertain others - vanity, fame, recognition, all of these things are shadowed by our desire for that which we all love. The raw, uninterrupted, chaotic thrill of entertainment and anarchy. It's what we all crave, even the seemingly lifeless politicians and emotionless, middle-aged self-titled failures. You are not failures. You have not blown away. You can get what you want and you are worth having it, believe in yourself," the group stated.

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50 Days of Lulz

Since May, LulzSec has embarked on a stunning spree of hacking attacks against Sony Corp., the U.S. Senate, an FBI affiliate, the Public Broadcasting System, gaming sites, and online porn sites. The group also claimed responsibility for bringing down the Brazilian government's website earlier in June.

After the group stepped up its hacking from corporations to the US FBI on June 3, two of its members lost their nerve and quit, fearing reprisals from the US government.

Their fears reached a climax last Monday when UK police arrested 19-year-old Ryan Cleary and later charged him with a cyber attack in connection with a joint Scotland Yard and FBI probe into a hacking group believed to be LulzSec.

The group downplayed Cleary's role in the collective, saying, "Ryan Cleary is not part of LulzSec; we house one of our many legitimate chatrooms on his IRC server, but that's it."

According to Analysts, the group appears to be spin-off of "Anonymous," another infamous hacker group known for its attacks against government sites. LulzSec and Anonymous have sailed on what they call "Operation: Anti-Security" earlier this month.

Calling it "AntiSec," they intended to expose corrupt, abusive governments by protesting and combating any and all institutions' or governments' attempts to censor or moderate the Internet.

The first casualty was an Arizona police website as LulzSec leaked dozens of internal documents over the Internet with the headline"Chinga La Migra," Spanish for a more profane way of saying "Screw the Immigration Service." The group said the leak was a retaliation to Arizona's controversial immigration bill that requires Arizona immigrants to carry registration documents at all times.

2 Brazilian government websites, Brasil.gov.br and Presidencia.gov.br, were also hacked.