The Australian Federal Police announced yesterday evening that they arrested Matt Flannery, a 24-year-old IT professional from Point Claire. The police allege that he attacked and defaced a government Web site earlier in the month. Interestingly enough, the police also say that he’s a “self-proclaimed leader” of LulzSec.

The police say Flannery used his position within an IT company to hack a number of clients. The police also warned that he would have attacked more Web sites had he stayed employed with the company.

Flannery faces two counts of unauthorized modification of data to cause impairment and one count of unauthorized access to, or modification of, restricted data. The police note that the maximum penalty for the former is 10 years and 2 years for the latter.

What’s interesting about all of this is that the police say he’s a “self-proclaimed leader” of LulzSec. Members of Anonymous and others have come out on Twitter to dispute this claim:

This absolute bullshit great work feds u busted a ddos fag >> Self-proclaimed LulzSec hacking leader arrested in NSW abc.net.au/news/2013-04-2…

— Anonymous Australia (@AuAnon) April 23, 2013

#AFP trying to make this like they cracked the big case yet we dont even know what hack it was some big hecker #lulznot

— Anonymous Australia (@AuAnon) April 24, 2013

Self-proclaimed leader of #Lulzsec in Australia is trolling. Police are dumb.

— K for Kallisti (@Kallisti) April 24, 2013

“He is a well-respected person within the Anonymous community”, said Brad Marden, cyber-crime ops co-ordinator, AFP. Anonymous disagrees.

— Asher Wolf (@Asher_Wolf) April 24, 2013

#BREAKING!!! EXCLUSIVE:We have a picture of the leader of @lulzsec #LulzSec taken 5 minutes ago. twitter.com/AnonymousWWN/s…

— Anonymous (@YourAnonNewsKR) April 24, 2013

As an added bonus, Gizmodo AU dug up this video of the alleged LulzSec “leader” singing along to Grease:

[h/t: BBC]

Since then, the members of LulzSec have been rounded up and taken to trial. The latest trial saw Cody Kretsinger, known as “Recursion” in online circles, sentenced to a year in prison. He was convicted on one count of conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer. After his year in prison, he will remain under home detention.

You may be thinking that Kretsinger’s sentence is a little light. He was able to get his sentence down to a year thanks to a plea bargain he made last year with federal prosecutors. As part of that plea bargain, he admitted to hacking into a Sony Pictures’ database and sharing the information with other members of LulzSec.

Home detention won’t be the only thing that Kretsigner has to look forward to after his stint in prison either. The U.S. district judge ordered him to complete 1,000 hours of community service. Maybe he can help clean up Sony Pictures’ studios in Los Angeles to help make up the $600,000 in damages that federal prosecutors say he caused the studio.

Kretsinger is one of the last original LulzSec members to be sentenced for their hacking spree in 2011. The hacker collective fell apart last year when its leader, known as Sabu, went rogue and started working with the FBI as an informant. There have been attempts to resurrect the group since then, but nothing has come of it.

[h/t: Reuters]

Jake Davis, otherwise known as Topiary, was one of the LulzSec hackers arrested on July 27, 2011 in connection with attacks on various Web sites. Since then, he’s been out on conditional bail where he has agreed to not use the Internet. He also pled guilty to hacking charges back in June.

It’s been over a year since his arrest and he hasn’t used the Internet once. Davis wrote a piece for The Guardian where he describes his experience without the Internet. It’s a fascinating look at a man who once spent almost every waking moment online being forced to make such a drastic change.

As expected, Davis says the change has its pros and cons. The instant gratification of online life has been replaced by the more calm progression of life that’s defined by physical interaction.

It seems strange that humans have evolved and adapted for thousands of years without this simple connectivity, and now we in modern society struggle to comprehend existence without it. In a word, life is serene. I now find myself reading newspapers as though they weren’t ancient scrolls; entering real shops with real money in order to buy real products, and not wishing to Photoshop a cosmic being of unspeakable horror into every possible social situation. Nothing needs to be captioned or made into an elaborate joke to impress a citizenry whose every emotion is represented by a sequence of keystrokes.

He says that the one thing he does miss is the “instant companionship of online life.” Still, he claims that it’s “oddly endearing” to be disconnected from his past digital life. It has helped him sleep better and he no longer sees “flashing shapes” when he closes his eyes.

In the end, he encourages others who are constantly on the Web to “take a short break.” It’s apparently helped him become a more “fulfilled individual,” and it just might work for others who need a break. Like Davis says, “It can’t hurt to try.”

Ryan Cleary, 20, and Jake Davis, 19, admitted to officials that they, along with other fellow hackers, had plotted to attack numerous government, media, and law enforcement websites last year. According to reports, the group, which is an offshoot of the hacker collective Anonymous, was behind the penetration of the Sony Pictures website in 2011. Additionally, the group also claimed responsibility for hacking into the PBS website and posting a story about fake news story about Tupac Shakur’s posthumous life in New Zealand.

However, following an announcement which claimed the group was to retire, Lulz Security allegedly made their way into websites for newspapers owned by News Corporation, during which they falsely reported owner Rupert Murdoch’s death.

Following the PBS incident last year, the group set forth on a hacking rampage, leaving a trail of compromised websites in their wake, including Britain’s Serious and Organized Crime Agency, InfraGard, and Arizona Department of Public Safety. Their reign of cyber terror came to an end when the FBI discovered the group’s leader, Sabu, was FBI informant Hector Xavier Monsegur. The revelation soon led to the arrest of a number of Monsegur’s cohorts.

Some people obviously disagreed with the sentiment and went about trying to revive LulzSec. It seems that those efforts have now been rewarded with the return of everybody’s favorite hackers. Announced through an inconspicuous YouTube channel, LulzSec announced its glorious return through a hilarious Star Wars parody that compared the FBI to Sith Lords and themselves as Jedi warriors fighting against the Empire that is the United States.

So what? LulzSec says they’re back and make a funny Star Wars parody. It really doesn’t mean anything, right? Well, you would be right except that the video goes on to claim that LulzSec has gotten their hands on some juicy information from various government servers. The amount of data totals out to 3 TB and comes from various sources including the State Department, ICE, Defense Intelligence Agency and other military sites. They also claim to have taken information from servers belonging to Syria, Colombian prisons and more.

Of course, this could all be just another attempt at somebody trying to get attention. LulzSec was apparently brought back to life back in March for Project Mayhem, but that all turned out to be a ruse. It remains to be seen if this one is legitimate or not.

To play devil’s advocate for a moment, however, this one at least seems the most legitimate of the bunch. All previous claims of return came with promises of attacking governments and whatnot, but they had nothing to show for it. This new video at least has proof, however questionable, to show that this might be the real deal.

The response from the various branches of Anonymous has been divided as expected. Some welcome back the group that put Anonymous on the map while others think it should be left alone out of respect for those that were arrested.

Reuters is reporting that Kretsinger has reversed his not guilty plea after working out a deal with prosecutors. He was charged with taking part in the hack attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment which ended up costing the film studio over $600,000 in damages. The charges he pleaded guilty to were conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a computer system.

According to the report, Kretsinger is likely to receive “substantially less than the 15-year maximum sentence he faces.” It’s still nothing compared to the 124-year sentence Sabu faces, but I’m sure his cooperation with the FBI will severely reduce that as well.

This is probably the least interesting news to come out LulzSec over the past month, however, as the events leading after Sabu’s betrayal revealed a potential conspiracy that would put Hollywood to shame. Anonymous released an Antisec timeline last month that recounted the steps of LulzSec. They found evidence that shows the entire Antisec movement perpetrated by Sabu to be an intricate FBI ruse to nab the other LulzSec members.

Of course, Anonymous isn’t a group that would let this go. They began to attack sites associated with the FBI or similar groups. They even began FuckFBIFriday in protest of the government agency.

All of this is to remind us that LulzSec is dead and Anonymous has moved on. At least that’s what people thought until a YouTube video showed up two weeks ago claiming to herald the return of LulzSec. It alludes to something called ProjectMayhem 2012, a movement that seeks to leak government and corporate info to cause as much chaos as possible.

Whether or not LulzSec is coming back, one thing is clear – the current LulzSec members are in some serious trouble. Other members of the group are most likely being presented with plea bargains as well.

We’ll keep you updated on any new developments in the LulzSec case. It’s promising to be just as interesting as the MegaUpload Saga.

LulzSec has been a hot ticket item in the news again recently as many of its members had been arrested and its leader, Sabu, had been working with the FBI for months. In response to the betrayal and arrests, Anonymous began to attack various Web sites to prove they didn’t need LulzSec to be effective.

A YouTube video uploaded Saturday called “LulzSec Returns” points to the group getting back together. The video was uploaded by FawkesSecurity, a user who uploaded various other videos on Saturday. They all point to a single movement called Project Mayhem 2012.

A pastebin entry on the subject defines Project Mayhem as a movement to destabilize the status quo. It will be used to collect and distribute leaks on major governments and corporations. They want to make it an artistic-based, non-violent movement that works around the law to bring about social change.

Where does LulzSec fit into all of this? I’m not sure, but the video announcing its return says that they will be hacking governments, corporations and everything else. It fits right into the core mission of Project Mayhem, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

Some members within Anonymous question the validity of the video. They are saying it’s a rip-off or a copycat group. That’s entirely possible, but if they can pull off the same level of hacks that LulzSec did last summer then it might be worth keeping an eye on.

There’s also been a Twitter account created called LulzSec Reborn. I’m sure that many Anonymous members are not so trustworthy anymore after the betrayal of Sabu. After all, this could be a second FBI sting. We just don’t know.

@wesleypipes12 @lulzboatr @youranonnews @anon2world @canc3r_ @Vox_Anonymous LulzSec died after their 50 day cruise

— Discordian (@DiscordiAnon) March 19, 2012

Here’s the video. It’s up to you to decide whether or not LulzSec is back or if this is just a rip-off, copycat or even a new FBI sting. I’m sure more will be revealed in the coming days.

Anonymous PR Wing @YourAnonNews announced its suspicions on Twitter last night. If there’s anything to their claims, this is some serious spy-versus-spy stuff:

Earlier today the group published this timeline of #AntiSec, highlighting perceived correlations between LulzSec leader Sabu’s (Hector Xavier Monsegur) arrest and legal proceedings, his acquisition and sharing of security data with Anonymous affiliates, the formation of #AntiSec, and last week’s arrest of five suspected hackers.

Timeline of ANTISEC as Created and Operated Under FBI Supervision

#AntiSec was first announced on Twitter, the timeline asserts, at nearly the same time that Sabu was arrested

The same day, an #AntiSec release statement was posted on pastebin, encouraging widespread advertising the of “AntiSec” brand on both the digital and physical landscape:

Welcome to Operation Anti-Security (#AntiSec) – we encourage any vessel, large or small, to open fire on any government or agency that crosses their path. We fully endorse the flaunting of the word “AntiSec” on any government website defacement or physical graffiti art. We encourage you to spread the word of AntiSec far and wide, for it will be remembered. To increase efforts, we are now teaming up with the Anonymous collective and all affiliated battleships.

And a specific call was made to acquire sensitive government information:

Top priority is to steal and leak any classified government information, including email spools and documentation. Prime targets are banks and other high-ranking establishments.

A week later, LulzSec announced its disbandment and Sabu announced his allegience to #AntiSec.

YourAnonNews cites these correlations as evidence that #AntiSec was formed by Sabu after his turning federal informant, and thus that #AntiSec was a creation of the U.S. Government. You can examine the rest of the alleged evidence for yourself in the pages above.

While it will be nearly impossible to verify the validity of this timeline (and thus, the culpability of federal investigators in instigating #AntiSec and its attacks), the above timeline at least makes for some interesting reading with even more interesting implications (provided it’s accurate). If #AntiSec was a government creation, then that would make federal authorities at least marginally culpable for attacks carried out under the #AntiSec banner, especially any attacks that were instigated by their informant, or that were the result of information leaked by authorities. With strong enough evidence, this could even be a case for entrapment in the defense trials of alleged hackers recently arrested for #AntiSec-related crimes. Again, however, to prove such direct culpability of federal investigators would be a herculean task.

FBI involvement or no, the #AntiSec banner has grown far beyond the control of its creators, whoever they may be. But my head is spinning. I’m going to go write about something simple for a while.

YourAnonNews also published a 506-page pdf archive of all of Sabu’s tweets since November 2011. While we didn’t include it in this post, you can peruse it here if you’re feeling nosy.

Anonymous didn’t let this get them down and proceeded to get revenge. They took down all the sites within the PandaLabs family and defaced them like they did with their attacks on churches last week. The defacements are now gone, but the Web sites are still down at this time. An Anonymous member has posted the original defacement message on Pastebin.

#ANTISEC IS BACK ONCE AGAIN KNOCKING SNITCHES DOORS CAUSE TRAISON IS SOMETHING WE DONT FORGIVE

YEAH YEAH
WE KNOW…
SABU SNITCHED ON US
AS USUALLY HAPPENS FBI MENACED HIM TO TAKE HIS SONS AWAY
WE UNDERSTAND, BUT WE WERE YOUR FAMILY TOO (REMEMBER WHAT YOU LIKED TO SAY?)

IT’S SAD AND WE CANT IMAGINE HOW IT FEELS HAVING TO LOOK AT THE MIRROR EACH MORNING
AND SEE THERE THE GUY WHO SHOPPED THEIR FRIENDS TO POLICE.
ANYWAY…

LOVE TO LULZSEC / ANTISEC FALLEN FRIENDS
THOSE WHO TRULY BELIEVED WE COULD MAKE A DIFFERENCE
LOVE TO THOSE BUSTED ANONS, FRIENDS WHO ARE FIGHTING FOR THEIR OWN FREEDOM NOW
LOVE TO THOSE WHO FIGHTED FOR THEIR FREEDOM IN TUNISIA, EGYPT, LIBYA
SYRIA, BAHRAIN, YEMEN, IRAN, ETC AND ETC AND ETC
LOVE TO THOSE WHO FIGHTED FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH, FOR A REAL DEMOCRACY,
FOR A GOVT FREE OF CORRUPTION,
FOR A FREE WORLD WHERE WE ARE ABLE TO SHARE OUR KNOWLEDGE FREELY

LOVE TO THOSE WHO FIGHT FOR SOMETHING THEY BELIEVE IN

WE ARE ANTISEC
WE LL FIGHT TILL THE END

TO FBI AND OTHER SHITS
COME AT US BROS
WE ARE WAITING FOR YOU

hello friends!
pandasecurity.com, better known for its shitty ANTIVIRUS WE HAVE BACKDOORED, has earning money working with Law Enforcement to lurk
and snitch on anonymous activists. they helped to jail 25 anonymous in different countries and they were actively participating
in our IRC channels trying to dox many others. Aside how clueless they are and how disgusting they look sucking police tiny dicks
and even how much fun we got when they are trying to sell IT security services xD that only helps to endanger people even more;
they contribute to bring activist to jail. activists, not even hackers. common people who are trying desperately to denounce
the injustices happening on their countries right now.
we should just say:

yep we know about you.
how does it feels being the spied one?
eat cock now.

A member of Panda Security, Luis Corrons, was quoted as saying that the end of LulzSec meant the end of major hack attacks perpetrated by Anonymous. He claimed that Anonymous would go back to weak DDoS attacks. Anonymous refutes this claim and posted all the online profiles of Corrons in what looks like an attempt to bully him.

The list of Web sites that Anonymous took down and defaced are as follows:

cybercrime.pandasecurity.com
antivirus-offers.pandasecurity.com
blog.cloudantivirus.com
cloudofficeprotection.pandasecurity.com
cloud.pandasecurity.com
cloudpartnercenter.pandasecurity.com
cloudprotectionbeta.pandasecurity.com.tar.gz
cloudprotection.pandasecurity.com
facebookfriends.pandasecurity.com
forgetsecurity.co.uk
forgetsecurity.co.za
forgetsecurity.es
go.pandasecurity.com
info.pandasecurity.com
information.pandasecurity.com
lavuelta.pandasecurity.com
maintenance.pandasecurity.com
momentos.pandasecurity.com
ondersteuning.pandasecurity.com
pandacompetition.pandasecurity.com
pandalabs.pandasecurity.com
prensa.pandasecurity.com
press.pandasecurity.com
promo.pandasecurity.com
protectyourfamily.pandasecurity.com
research.pandasecurity.com
securitytothecloud.pandasecurity.com
serviciospro.pandasecurity.com
servicos.pandasecurity.com
suporte.pandasecurity.com
techcenter.pandasecurity.com
uninstall.cloudantivirus.com
wiki.cloudantivirus.com
www.cnccs.es
www.forgetsecurity.de
www.forgetsecurity.se

What follows is the private accounts for employees of Panda Security and their log in credentials.

While the arrests and betrayal certainly hurt Anonymous, they seem to not let it get to them. This only proves that they are more than willing to fight back even after a major blow like this. Anonymous is still planning on new attacks every Friday. We’ll keep you updated on any developments.

Here’s Sabu’s:

Monsegur, Hector Xavier Information

And Jeremy Hammond’s:

Hammond, Jeremy Complaint

Ackroyd and Company:

Ackroyd, Et Al. Indictment

And O’Cearrbhail again:

Cearrbhail Donncha Complaint

We’ll keep you informed as events unfold. Until then, happy reading.

Hat tip to Gizmodo. Thanks, guys.