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Lulzsec releases 62,000 email addresses and passwords
HACKER GROUP Lulzsec has posted over 62,000 email addresses and passwords in the latest of its random attacks on all and everything.
Lulzsec asked its supporters to go to the random forum on 4chan and "post stuff about Boxxy", promising to reward them with 50,000 email addresses and passwords. An hour later it delivered, but the list was even larger than promised.
The list was contained in a text document uploaded to mediafire. Lulzsec joked about how long it would take before the file was removed, but at the time of writing it is still available. At least 3,200 people have downloaded it so far.
The email addresses cover a multitude of different email hosts, but primarily feature Hotmail and Yahoo. A number of Gmail addresses are also available. Passwords range from simplistic words to random strings of numbers, letters and symbols, but this seems to not have stopped Lulzsec from somehow gaining access.
It's not clear how Lulzsec came across this information, but it might be from one of several hacks it performed on various web sites and networks recently, most famously Sony.
A number of supporters of the group began instantly trying out the passwords, gaining access to people's email accounts, Facebook and Twitter accounts, dating web site profiles and even a World of Warcraft account.
While Lulzsec is likely to have anonymised its tracks when uploading the file, many of the people who are tweeting about their use of the exposed information could face charges if they are tracked down.
The move follows Lulzsec setting up a phone line where fans could request web sites to be hit with Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. It targeted a number of online games, angering gamers and previous supporters. Threats on 4chan to hunt the group down are likely why Lulzsec wanted its fans to post there.
Lulzsec commented that it was "good to see some refreshing carnage". It promised to be back within hours, so we can probably expect further hacking soon. µ
Tags: Security
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Email services like gmail or hotmail, and most likely others as well, provide access to the accounts without the need of a password to other services and companies. The password is just for the user so he or she can feel a tiny little bit "save" or "private".
So what is so special about Lulzsec releasing email passwords when the only thing they are doing is to "use" the internet the way it is build.
Anyhow, free email services have about as much security as sending a postcard.
Most of the "security" on the internet is just to stop the crowd and not those who with a little bit of thinking figure out very soon that it is just 99,99% security and not 100%.
The internet is anyway a place to spread information and not to keep it secret !