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'Web ninjas' pursue, expose US hackers


A group of "cyber vigilantes" have teamed up to expose the people behind LulzSec, a group of hackers who have successfully infiltrated and defaced US government and corporate web sites in the past months. According to a report by Time Magazine's Techland, a group that calls itself "Web Ninjas" has setup a blog, aptly named "LulzSec Exposed," in its bid to uncover the people responsible for security breaches to the web sites of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Public Broadcasting Service recently. Among the cyber vigilantes include The Jester (a.k.a. Th3j35t3r), the report said, an ex-military gray-hat hacker, who has previously attacked WikiLeaks and 4chan. In several posts on the blog, the Web Ninjas claim to have gathered chat logs between LulzSec members and potential recruits, even highlighting how the group is sourcing funds from supporters. LulzSec has publicly responded to the said leak, saying: "Those logs are primarily from a channel called #pure-elite, which is /not/ the LulzSec core chatting channel. #pure-elite is where we gather potential backup/subcrew research and development battle fleet members." The vigilante group, meanwhile, has posted a photo of Sabu, purportedly the group's leader, which it described as "the most experienced, skilled member of lulzsec, and functions as its leader, mostly through intimidation." Web Ninjas is also claiming possession of information about the other members of the group, but is currently witholding publication "due to the sensitivity of information." "We are directly sending the information to FBI now but still will publish some info on the BLOG," it added. In the past weeks, LulzSec has claimed responsibility for hacking high-profile websites such as the US Central Intelligence Agency and exposing pornography website accounts of people from the military and government. [See: Hackers expose porn accounts of users from gov't, military] The group has also opened a hotline for hacking requests, where it got tips and leads from users on which websites to target next. LulzSec has since clarified that it is not going after another hacking group, Anonymous, which has also claimed credit for attacks on several government websites. Local hacking group In the Philippines, local hacking group Philker has been on a hacking spree in the past weeks, defacing government web sites and exposing their security vulnerabilities. While Philker has not claimed connections to the more popular hacking group Anonymous, it has left notes similar to that of the global "hacktivist" group: "Expect more from us. We are Philker," it has said - a nod to Anonymous' "Expect us" warning. Thus far, the local hacking group has successfully broken into the websites of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute and the Food and Drug Administration. Its latest victim is the website of the Office of the Vice President, where it claimed only "good intentions" in hacking the website. "We are not trying to damage you. We only want to help protect our country's cyberspace by doing what seems to be the most efficient way to get everyone's attention," the group explained. These recent attacks have apparently caught the attention of the government, which promised to assess and review the security protocols of their websites. — HS/RSJ, GMA News

Tags: hacking, hackers
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