For Some Hackers, Goal Is Pranks

Amid growing worries over criminal hacking attacks and cyberwarfare, a group calling itself LulzSec is showing that hackers pulling pranks to get attention remain a serious annoyance and even a threat in their own right.

Since early May, the group, whose members remain unknown, has claimed responsibility seven times for computer break-ins and the theft of documents that it posted on a website and bragged about on Twitter. Targets have included Japanese technology-and-media giant Sony Corp., U.S. public broadcaster PBS, and television network Fox, a unit of News Corp., which also owns The Wall Street Journal. In most cases involving data theft, perpetrators have not claimed responsibility. LulzSec, by comparison, boldly announces its antics and publishes private data to bolster its claims -- echoing the actions of an earlier generation of hackers that sought to brag about their skill or taunt victims and rivals. Security experts say such tactics are at least as troublesome, if not more so. "The underlying motives may be different, but the damage they can do is exponentially greater," said Craig Spiezle, executive director of the Online Trust Alliance and a member of InfraGard. "Effectively, they are creating disruption and doing economic harm."