Someone at the Department of Homeland Security is clearly up on his LOLspeak.
In a threat assessment of online hacking groups Anonymous and Lulz Security (LulzSec) released Monday, DHS describes the majority of members in those organization as “script kiddies,” or “[u]nskilled individuals who use scripts or programs developed by others to attack computer systems and networks and deface websites.” (RELATED: ‘Shady RAT’: Five years of hacking organizations and government)
The bulletin provides a thorough history of Anonymous, detailing its origins on the image board 4chan, and discusses its campaign against the Church of Scientology and recent activities in protest of Wikileaks source Pvt. Bradley Manning.
The report, however, comes after a group of Anonymous-linked hackers called LulzSec “demonstrat[ed] moderately higher levels of skill and creativity, evidenced in attacks using combinations of methods and techniques to target multiple networks.
“To date, their attacks have largely resulted in the release of sensitive documents and personally identifiable information. These attacks have the potential to result in serious harm, particularly to Law Enforcement and other Federal, State and Local Government personnel who may be targeted as a result,” reads the report.
The bulletin comes just days after the U.K. arraignment of Jake Davis, 18, one of LulzSec’s most prominent members. Davis stands accused of coordinating multiple attacks on British government websites.
In a section discussing how to counter online attacks, the DHS report cautions that members of LulzSec have reunited with Anonymous.