LulzSec is a group of Web hackers who made themselves famous for their barrage of attacks and their sarcastic taunting of victims during the summer of 2011. Members of LulzSec, short for Lulz Security, committed many well-publicized online attacks in the span of several weeks.

The successful attacks included publicizing hundreds of thousands of passwords and user names from customers of supposedly secure Web sites. LulzSec’s history is a short, busy one. The group’s first known attack occurred in May 2011. By July 2011, 50 days after its first publicized hack, Lulz Security released a statement saying it would be disbanding.

In between, LulzSec was in the news almost daily. LulzSec: 50 Days of Lulz is a book that offers an eye-opening account of the headline-grabbing hacker group. In this eBook, you'll learn what motivated LulzSec, what methods they used, and how their attacks affected the world.

Book Excerpt:

Determining what motivated LulzSec to unleash its series of hacks in the summer of 2011 was a difficult process. Debate still continues on just how serious LulzSec’s attacks were.

Part of the group’s name is a play on an Internet acronym. The term Lulz is a phonetic spelling of the Internet term LOLs, which is short for laughing out loud. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LOL)

Multiple posts stating LOL might be made on an Internet message board or on Facebook. Most of the time, LOLs are used when an Internet prank is particularly successful. Because many of the LulzSec attacks had a humorous or prank-like slant, they might have generated many LOLs from the group’s members and fans, hence the name.

The term Sec is short for security. Computing, network, and Internet security personnel often shorten security to sec in everyday conversations. However, the group does not always use sec.

When you combine the two terms, you end up with LulzSec. The term could be read as laughing out loud at security. The group created a motto – Laughing at your security since 2011! – that continues this theme.

By including the idea of laughing at victims in its name, some people labeled Lulz Security’s members as pranksters. The group, at times, did not appear to be serious hackers bent on causing destruction and significant financial losses. Security personnel pointed at the group’s unsophisticated methods of attack as another sign that its members were little more than pranksters posing as serious hackers.

The group’s behavior at times seemed to strengthen this argument. Lulz Security has never listed one specific motivation for the attacks. In its various statements, LulzSec used humor, political statements, revenge against other hackers, calling attention to lax security, and support for WikiLeaks director Julian Assange as explanations for its motivation behind its attacks.

Lulz Security usually claimed credits for its attacks using Twitter, which isn’t the most serious form of communication. Using Twitter added to the general feeling that the group was pulling pranks.

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