Hacker group LulzSec ("the world's leaders in high-quality entertainment at your expense") has had its initial Google+ account nixed this week, though LulzSec has quickly and brashly re-emerged with a new one
LulzSec appears to have fallen victim to Google's purge of accounts on its new Google+ social network that are based on profiles not associated with a real individual's name. The same fate befell fellow hacking group Anonymous last month, and the outfit responded by saying it was developing its own social network and that it knew of an "operation" being organized against Google+.
BACKGROUND: LulzSec resurrected to attack Murdoch
MORE ON GOOGLE+: 10 tips for beginners
While LulzSec is feeling picked on by Google for its Google+ banishment ("G+ Didn't like us being a PIRATE -> G+ you cannot police the innerWeb"), the hacker group is far from alone in having its account suspended. Network World's own Julie Bort wrote late last month about how her account too was banned because of the name she has used on previous Google services.
If you're interested in following LulzSec on Google+, here's where to go, for now at least. Among topics of conversation on the account are the arrest in England of Jake "Topiary" Davis, dentified by authorities as a spokesman for Anonymous and LulzSec who allegedly conspired to conduct DDoS attacks (Davis has since been released on bail).
LulzSec announced June 25 that it was disbanding after 50 days of hacking law enforcement websites in several countries as well as Web servers of the U.S. Senate, but came out of "retirement" to hack Rupert Murdoch's The Sun website in mid-July. The emergence of hactivist groups like LulzSec and Anonymous hearken back to the days of hackers doing their thing to make a statement and for bragging rights, industry watchers say. Not only has LulzSec jumped into Google+, but it also has a Twitter account to spread word of its activities.
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