Lulz Security attacks Murdoch website

Hacking collective Lulz Security broke into The Sun’s website late on Monday, topping the site with this fake story

Websites owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News International newspaper company have become the latest targets for the Lulz Security hacker collective, which replaced The Sun’s top story with one claiming the media tycoon had died.

The article asserted that the 80-year-old Murdoch had been found dead in his garden after ingesting palladium, and visitors to the site were redirected to the hacking collective’s Twitter feed.

“We have owned Sun/News of the World,” Lulz Security posted on Twitter late on Monday, before Tuesday’s front page story on The Sun’s website read “Media moguls body discovered”.

The collective came to prominence after breaking into several high profile websites including those of the CIA, the US Congress, Sony Corp, and Fox TV, also owned by Murdoch’s News Corporation.

It is also known for using cyber attacks to make jokes out of its hacking endeavours. On its Twitter feed, Lulz Security wrote: “We have joy we have fun, we have messed up Murdoch’s Sun.”

It also said: “Arrest us. We dare you. We are the unstoppable hacking generation and you are a wasted old sack of s—, Murdoch. ROW ROW FIGHT THE POWER!”

News International, the British subsidiary of Murdoch’s News Corporation, is at the centre of a phone-hacking scandal that has rocked his business empire and dragged in British politicians and senior police.

A company spokesperson said News International was “aware of what was happening and that the company’s technical teams were working on the it”.

Earlier on Monday, Lulz Security member Sabu tweeted the hackers were “sitting on (Sun/News of the World) emails” and would release a statement on Tuesday.

This latest cyber assault came as a surprise to Lulz followers, after the hacking collective said it disbanded in late June with one last data dump, which included internal AOL and AT&T documents.

Responding to questions about its disbanding, the collective wrote on its Twitter feed: “Thank you for the love tonight. I know we quit, but we couldn’t sit by with our wine watching this walnut-faced Murdoch clowning around.”