WASHINGTON, June 17 (UPI) -- Lulz Security, a secretive group of hackers that has conducted a series of high-profile cyberattacks, says its actions are all for laughs.
Lulz Security, often referred to as LulzSec, breached Web sites for the CIA, the Public Broadcasting System and the U.S. Senate. It also claimed to have played a role in attacks on Sony, which had its PlayStation Network offline for about a month, but that remained unclear, CNN reported Friday.
"Lulz" is a morph of "lol," Web-speak for "laughing out loud."
The group's most recent strike was a distributed denial-of-service attack Wednesday that shut down the CIA's Web site for a few hours.
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Instead of hiding, LulzSec brags about the attacks on its Twitter page, with taunts, crude jokes and hints about future attacks, CNN said.
"Lulz Security, where the entertainment is always at your expense, whether you realize it or not," read a recent post on the Twitter account.
Analysts said the group could be a spinoff of Anonymous, a coalition of hackers formed to support the whistle-blower site WikiLeaks. But while Anonymous' attacks are largely politically motivated, LulzSec's tend to be random.
"These seem like they're probably some kids in the garage or something that are just having fun," David Gorodyansky, chief executive officer and co-founder of security software firm AnchorFree, told CNN.
CNN said a request for comment from LulzSec was not returned Thursday.
To help protect against attacks, Gorodyansky suggested Web site owners use encryption, among other things. He urged owners and managers to make sure they are using the latest firmware for their site's security tools.
"You may have the latest and most expensive equipment, but if you don't update the firmware as soon as it comes out it's very easy for the hackers to exploit," he said.
