After the Sun's IT department regained control over the tabloid's web site, LulzSec launched a second attack that redirected Sun readers to the hacker group's Twitter account.
"We had joy, we had fun, we have messed up Murdoch's Sun," a LulzSec tweet proclaimed. "For all you new people that are watching us right now: this is what we do, this is how we do it. High-quality entertainment just for you."
'Imprisoned Forever'
Late last month, LulzSec said it was disbanding after a 50-day spree in which it wreaked havoc at several high-profile U.S. government web sites. The hacker group also succeeded in compromising the Sony Entertainment web site and even posted a bogus "Tupac Still Alive" news story on the PBS site's home page.
"I know we quit, but we couldn't sit by with our wine watching this walnut-faced Murdoch clowning around," LulzSec tweeted Monday.
Murdoch faced probing questions from members of the United Kingdom's parliament Tuesday concerning the phone-hacking activities conducted by staff members at News of the World, which Murdoch has since shuttered. During his appearance before a parliamentary committee, Murdoch denied allegations that News Corp. employees hacked phones belonging to Sept. 11 survivors, victims and their families.
It remains to be seen whether the cache of e-mails that LulzSec managed to swipe from News International's servers on Monday will prove damaging to Murdoch's media empire. The hacker group promised to release them to the public sometime Tuesday.
Moreover, LulzSec said its attack on the Sun and News International is only the beginning. "We here at Lulz Security don't approve of criminals," LulzSec noted in a tongue-in-cheek tweet. "Every single one of them -- except us -- should be imprisoned forever."
An Activist Motive
LulzSec appears to have bypassed News International's lax security by compromising a retired server still connected to the British newspaper group's content-management system. In the wake of LulzSec's latest successful intrusion, the British newspaper chain's employees have been instructed to change their e-mail passwords.
According to LulzSec's bogus Sun tabloid news story, "Rupert Murdoch, the controversial media mogul, has reportedly been found dead in his garden, police announced. Murdoch, aged 80, was said to have ingested a large quantity of palladium before stumbling into his famous topiary garden late last night."
The phrase "famous topiary" was intended to evoke the hacker name of LulzSec member Topiary, who apparently controls the group's Twitter account. While palladium is the name of a silvery-white element with properties similar to platinum, the word also can refer to anything that provides protection or safety. For example, the U.S. Constitution is sometimes called the "Palladium of the Republic" because it acts as a safeguard for civil liberties.
So LulzSec's bogus story may have been intended to suggest that the hacker group had been enticed out of retirement for the purpose of acting as a safeguard, though the simple truth may be that the group saw Murdoch as an easy target to generate sympathy for LulzSec's illegal activities. "How'd you manage to stab yourself in the back, Murdoch?" LulzSec taunted. "How'd you get your arms to bend back like that?"
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