Timeline: LulzSec hack attacks

Back to the US for the next hack, as the Senate felt the full force of LulzSec.

The hactivists broke into the public-facing side of the Senate website and published information it gained. However, the Senate itself claimed none of the personal details for America's 100 senators had been compromised.

16 June 2011 Part One

Staying in the US, LulzSec went for an even higher-profile target next in the shape of the CIA.

It shutdown the public-facing website several times, calling the attack "really a very simple packet flood."

16 June 2011 Part Two

The 16 June was a busy day for LulzSec when it released one of its biggest hoards of data 62,000 passwords and emails.

Although it didn't confirm where the details had come from, security analysts claimed many had come from author website Writerspace.com. LulzSec encouraged its followers to abuse the details by changing people's profile pictures on dating sites or playing tricks using their email addresses.

21 June 2011

If large organisations were quivering at the though of LulzSec, its announcement on 21 June had them positively shaking.

LulzSec declared it had teamed up with fellow hacktivists Anonymous famous for its hacks in defence of Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange.

It launched Operation Anti-Security and encouraged supporters of both groups to get involved by targeting Government agencies and banks.

22 June 2011

In the first blow to LulzSec, Scotland Yard claimed to have arrested one of the ringleaders, in the shape of a 19-year-old man from Essex.

Named by the BBC as Ryan Clearly, reports said he had been involved in a number of hacks, including previously working alongside Anonymous.

However, LulzSec disputed the effect of the arrest on its Twitter feed, claiming the hacktivist firm was still in business.

27 June 2011

LulzSec might not be looking for its next target as it takes to Twitter to suggest the group is disbanding.

Jennifer Scott

Jennifer Scott is a former freelance journalist and currently political reporter for Sky News. She has a varied writing history, having started her career at Dennis Publishing, working in various roles across its business technology titles, including ITPro. Jennifer has specialised in a number of areas over the years and has produced a wealth of content for ITPro, focusing largely on data storage, networking, cloud computing, and telecommunications.

Most recently Jennifer has turned her skills to the political sphere and broadcast journalism, where she has worked for the BBC as a political reporter, before moving to Sky News.