LulzSec Hackers Claim Break-In Of Senate Computers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A loosely aligned group of computer hackers calling themselves Lulz Security said they broke into the Senate's computer network on Monday.

There was no immediate comment by the Senate Sergeant at Arms Office, which oversees the chamber's security.

Lulz Security, who have hacked into Sony's website and the Public Broadcasting System, posted online a list of files that appear not to be sensitive but indicate the hackers had been into the Senate's computer network.

"They certainly demonstrated that they were in and they found the file server," said Stewart Baker, a former cyber official at the Department of Homeland Security.

"It's not clear from the file names that there's anything sensitive here. The hackers may have done the equivalent of burglarizing the Senate and bragging because they managed to steal a bunch of souvenirs from the gift shop," said Baker, now a partner at Steptoe and Johnson LLP.

John Bumgarner, of the Cyber Consequences Unit, said the break-in would cause red faces at the Senate.

"They're all valid directories," he said after looking at data posted online. "It's very embarrassing that this happened that this was a government site that belonged to the Senate and was compromised."

"They probably also got user names and passwords," he said.

The group has also hit web sites owned by Sony Corp. It has also claimed responsibility for defacing the Public Broadcasting Service network websites, and for posting on Monday data from PBS servers to protest a "Front Line" documentary about WikiLeaks.

It has also claimed credit for breaking into a Fox.com website and publishing data about contestants for the upcoming Fox TV talent show, "X Factor." Fox is a unit of News Corp.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.

Comments

[Eris23]

01:01 PM on 06/14/2011

"The hackers may have done the equivalent of burglarizing the Senate and bragging because they managed to steal a bunch of souvenirs from the gift shop,"

Not exactly. Souvenirs in the gift shop are available to the public. But, nice attempt at saving face to people who don't understand these things.

[Hugh Briggs]

12:28 PM on 06/14/2011

All this money going down the drain onHomeland Security Cyber division. Wow. Fail less DHS

[apathyman]

10:11 AM on 06/14/2011

Good, now they can tell us which of the senators have been watching porn while they were suppose to be working lol

[kintarius]

09:35 AM on 06/14/2011

"So the combination is... one, two, three, four, five? That's the stupidest combination I've ever heard in my life! The kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage!"

[William J Unverferth Sr]

09:59 AM on 06/14/2011

Ludicrous speed!!

[kintarius]

10:22 AM on 06/14/2011

My brains are going into my feet!

[edgeninja]

08:07 AM on 06/14/2011

All of Congress seems ripe for hacking considering how many of its members are pushing 60 or older. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them were still writing their speeches with quill and ink.

[CoIncidence333]

07:59 AM on 06/14/2011

Oh come on LulzSec . . . I thought you have more ballz than that. I mean you get all the way inside and then take a couple of non-important files? Come on!
I would have gladly compared you to Wikileaks IF, and I stress the IF, you had actually done something to improve the overall view of things.
But instead you just did it for the kicks. What happened to the conviction? What happened to sticking it to the man?!

[dbw53022]

08:28 AM on 06/14/2011

The US had better get its act together re: cyber crime. It's all fun and games until it debilitates the power grid or wall street or the DOD or disrupts the entire economy by infecting cloud computing or disrupting the internet.

[CoIncidence333]

08:40 AM on 06/14/2011

Which is why I think my theory about Lulz Sec is on track for where it's headed and where it comes from.
What better way to hype up cyber security than to demonstrate how vulnerable it is. And what better way to drive us into a deeper hole with whatever their calling the patriot act now.

[flyinghogfish]

05:41 AM on 06/14/2011

HUFFPOST SUPER USER
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Obama 2012
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9 hours ago (6:27 PM)
Do these kids really want to go to Gitmo?
======================
I doubt many of these "kids" will get caught, at least not the smart ones. It is also a little silly for everyone to continue to characterize hacktivists as kids. Hacking various forms of technology has been going on for well over thirty years. The current crop of kiddies out there have probably have learned and been inspired by people who were around back to the phone phreaking days who could be old enough to be their grandparents or even great grandparents. More than a few of those from these previous generations are probably still active in hacking in one form or another, many after all, were probably very involved in helping create the systems that are now being hacked.

Hacking has always had a political bent, generally left/anarchist, anti-corporate, pro-people/democracy. As global telecommunications network and computer tech has grown so has this subculture. While a few have sold themselves out to corporate, governmental, or in some cases criminal interests, I think that for the most part they remain pranksters and anarchists, relatively harmless, so long as you are not a government or corporation that pisses them off. They are becoming increasingly vocal and active in their concerns on where humanity is heading. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, it certainly is interesting.

[DaneAZ]

02:49 AM on 06/14/2011

How's the saying go?

Something about how lucky one is "to live in interesting times".

I find this all VERY interesting.

[William J Unverferth Sr]

10:00 AM on 06/14/2011

It's an ancient Chinese curse.

[mariyehasy]

01:56 AM on 06/14/2011

It seems like a relaxing thought to have a brain as non-bias as a computer handling everything.
http://www.zimbio.com/Anti-aging/articles/z4lDyoNwD4u/Complete+Radiance+Anti+Aging+Cream+Reviews

[Steve Ballmer]

11:54 PM on 06/13/2011

These were NOT windows computers!

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

[Jack Daniels Esq]

05:42 AM on 06/14/2011

Nobody there has a room temp +IQ to run Linux

[poe2299]

11:42 PM on 06/13/2011

So now we have one group of of individual going by the names of lulzsec, and thousands of individuals all Anonymous.

And people seem to think we have two entities on our hands when we only have 1.

[flyinghogfish]

05:57 AM on 06/14/2011

No actually there are two distinct groups though one of them might be a government counter operation (which government? and which group? maybe both?). Getting scared yet?

[Rjchinook]

11:23 PM on 06/13/2011

Best Anonymous tune enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxqlY21BRjE

[BUTCHER111]

10:20 PM on 06/13/2011

Wonder if Vitter is worried?

[Rjchinook]

11:24 PM on 06/13/2011

iS vITTER ALL A twITTER?

[Thanks4Watching]

08:20 PM on 06/13/2011

It's going to be impossible to hunt down every hacker in the country. Instead of swatting at flies, they need to move out of the dial-up age and fix their own security. This problem is not going away, it is going to get worse. Instead of thumping their chest and throwing their weight around with threats, they need to patch the holes in their security.

If animals knock down your fence, you don't leave it broken and threaten everyone who invades your privacy; you fix it and make it better so it won't break it again.

[Rjchinook]

11:40 PM on 06/13/2011

Hard to do if you're over 10 steps ahead of the idiots!
What it comes down too is that the majority of people REALLY care about democracy! (example: middle east) & Human's primarily care more about people who are worst off no matter how BAD their lives really are & STILL want to help others!
Its actually very simple & its called being humane! REPUGS/TEABAGGERS will never learn or know this kind of empathy or understanding as it's beyond their narcissistic, self serving & holier than thou personalities!

[H Seldon]

08:00 PM on 06/13/2011

if anyone is interested on what the guys that did it, said about it ....

==================================================
Greetings friends,

We don't like the US government very much. Their boats are
weak, their lulz are low, and their sites aren't very secure.
In an attempt to help them fix their issues, we've decided
to donate additional lulz in the form of owning them some more!

This is a small, just-for-kicks release of some internal data
from Senate.gov - is this an act of war, gentlemen? Problem?

- Lulz Security

==================================================
http://lulzsecurity.com/releases/senate.gov.txt

[poe2299]

11:45 PM on 06/13/2011

Wonder how many 15 year old kids are going to use that and try it, and ruin their lives. Oh for fail of proxy.

[bkerensa]

02:34 AM on 06/14/2011

High Five!