News Corporation Websites Under The Radar Of Lulz Sec And Anonymous

By Author: eccuni
Total Articles: 211
Comment this article

Lulz Sec, the disbanded cyber-attack group has resurfaced again. In the latest attack, Lulz Sec targeted various British websites related to the Rupert Murdoch owned News Corporation. The company had disabled the server after Lulz Sec defaced the website of The Sun to avoid further security breach. The group reportedly posted a fake story on the website of The Sun. The fake story announced that the death of Rupert Murdoch. The story claims that the media baron collapsed in the garden, after consuming some palladium, a chemical in the Kitchen. The company acted swiftly to remove the fake story from the site, but attackers redirected the website to the Twitter account of Lulz Sec. The attack group has claimed access to the login credentials of Rebekah Brooks, who recently resigned as the Chief Executive of News International, Bill Akass, former managing editor and personal accounts of The Sun staffers.

The Anonymous group has also reportedly claimed responsibility for bringing down the website of The Times and claims to have access to personal data related to the employees of the News group. Other group websites such as ...
... the Sunday Times and News International Site were not accessible. Lulz Sec has warned that the latest attack is only Phase 1 of the new wave of attacks.

The news group has been at the center of a major phone tapping controversy in United Kingdom (U.K), which forced the company to shut down popular 'News of the World' Tabloid. The latest attack comes at a time when Rupert Murdoch and his son James Murdoch are due to appear before a U.K Parliamentary committee. Both Anonymous and Lulz Sec are infamous for distributed denial-of-service attacks on websites. Lulz Sec gained instant attention by launching frequent attacks, announcing the attack on Twitter and publishing extracted details online. Lulz Sec's onslaught made other groups to swing into action.

Last month, the group had announced dissolution after a 50 day saga of cyber-attacks on high profile websites. The announcement followed publication of leaked Internet Relay Chat (IRC) logs between various members of the group. A rival attack group TeaMp0ison also claimed access to the details of Lulz Sec members. More recently, another Rival attacker Jester claimed to have unmasked the real identity of Sabu, the head of Lulz Sec. Various reports suggested that members of the group had joined Anonymous and other attacking groups. Frequent attacks pose challenge for the law enforcement. Counter crime professionals may leverage online IT degree programs and online computer forensics training programs to enhance their capabilities in combating sophisticated threats.

Organizations must conduct in-depth security evaluation at regular intervals through penetration testers. Penetration testers use attack tools to identify the weaknesses in the IT infrastructure. Professionals qualified in IT degree programs may help organizations in understanding the business environment and modifying the security policies in accordance with the threat scenario.

IT professionals must place emphasis on improving security practices in the organization through mock tests and training sessions. They must sensitize employees on the implications of negligent security practices. Employees may benefit from online IT courses and adopt secured practices.