End of Hacker group LulzSec May Not Mean End of Hacks

Hacker group LulzSec, which claimed responsibility for multiple attacks on corporations and government agencies in the past 50 days, may have reportedly disbanded Saturday, but one could easily just call it “rebranding.”

According to tweets from the account of the hacker collective known as Anonymous, LulzSec members didn’t actually go anywhere, they just dropped the “LulzSec” moniker.

“We like to clarify again: All LulzSec members are accounted for, nobody is hiding. Only a name was abandoned for the greater glory #AntiSec,” says a tweet from @AnonymousIRC.

The media speculates that LulzSec – a small, well-defined group – has started to attract too much attention and that it’s safer for members to blend into the larger and more elusive Anonymous collective.

Does it all mean that the string of recent high-profile hacking attacks, which targeted Sony, CIA, U.S. Senate, Nintendo and others, will stop? Highly unlikely, as Anonymous already posted a “teaser” while they “work on the actual release” – meaning they’re preparing for more hacking.

The “teaser” in question is a “counter cyber-terrorism training file,” seemingly containing material from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The file is said to include documents related to security and hacking, explanation of how to officially request user information from an Internet Service Provider and lists of FBI bureau addresses in the U.S.

So, not much has really changed: While LulzSec (by name) might be a thing of the past, Anonymous will continue its campaign. Don’t be surprised to see more high-profile attacks on corporations and government agencies.