(Image source: Digital Trends)

BY TRACY PFEIFFER

ANCHOR AUSTIN KIM

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After a month and a half of cyber warfare -- notorious hacker group LulzSec is calling it quits.

“Lulzsec hackers say it's time to retire. They made the announcement via Twitter yesterday.The group claims responsibility for hacking the CIA, FBI partner-- Infragard, Arizona police, Sony and many more. They say their goal was ‘for the lulz’ and committing to ‘Operation Anti-security.’” (WCPO)

The group posted a statement to torrent site Pirate Bay.

The New York Times’ Bits blog has it.

“Our planned 50 day cruise has expired, and we must now sail into the distance, leaving behind - we hope - inspiration, fear, denial, happiness, approval, disapproval, mockery, embarrassment, thoughtfulness, jealousy, hate, even love. If anything, we hope we had a microscopic impact on someone, somewhere. Anywhere.”

Of course, it was no simple bon voyage. Towards the end of the letter - and on their Twitter page - the group called for others to continue their fight or join Anonymous, a fellow hacking group.

And as a quote- “parting shot,” LulzSec released a finale trove of data...

“...apparently hacked from sources as diverse as computer games companies, a private investigator, the Nato bookshop and the internet giant AOL. The largest group of documents – 338 files – appeared to be ... from the US telecoms company AT&T, detailing its building of a new wireless broadband network which is set to go live this summer.” (The Guardian)

LulzSec says this was the plan all along.

Some have pointed out - the group’s retirement date fittingly coincides with the birthday of George Orwell, author of the dystopian novel 1984.

But a writer for Digital Trends notes -- others believe the pressure was just too much.

“In the past two weeks alone, Scotland Yard arrested a 19-year-old with ties to the group; hacker group Web Ninjas published names, photos and other personal data related to people it claims are members of LulzSec; and another hacker group, TeaMp0isoN, defaced the website of an alleged LulzSec member.”

A blogger for Financial Times says - their methods may have been controversial - and illegal - but they definitely made their point.

“By getting inside Sony, security companies and an FBI affiliate, Lulz showed it had the potential to make plain to everyone not only how bad cybersecurity is, but how ineffective law enforcement is... Still to be seen is whether Lulz gave that effort enough of a starting push to endanger major national secrets or to force companies to make their systems more secure at last.”

But in the end -- a writer for ZDNet says -- the final ‘lulz’ of LulzSec doesn’t mean the hacktivist threat is gone.

“Whether the world can now breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that the group have disbanded - at least publicly, it seems - there is no doubt a group willing to perform very much the same functions, under a different name and a unique ideology.”

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