Anonymous: LulzSec returns on April Fools' Day?

The hacktivist group Anonymous is reportedly bringing back Lulz Security (LulzSec), another hacktivist group loosely associated with the former. The supposed news follows the LulzSec arrests from earlier this month. A closer look at the video above, however, shows that the claims should be taken with a grain of salt.

Let me make something very clear before I attempt to debunk this one: LulzSec is still around. The group's members are still very close to Anonymous and they haven't gone anywhere. While the group did disband some nine months ago and while some of its members have been arrested, LulzSec's members are still alive and well. The thing to remember is that if LulzSec does return, the group will do so in style, not via a video announcement that claims lots of things will start happening next month, followed by even more crazy things in nine months.

It really doesn't matter whether it's Anonymous doing the hacking or if it's LulzSec doing the hacking. The same day LulzSec members were arrested, Anonymous showed it is quite capable of orchestrating an attack in the name of LulzSec. In fact, that attack was done under the banner of AntiSec, which refers to Anonymous and LulzSec working together.

Let's take a look at what we know. The LulzSec cinematic in question is one of 19 videos uploaded by YouTube user "FawkesSecurity." I wouldn't be surprised if that number went into the high 20s after this article is published. That should be your first hint that something doesn't add up. Here's the list of videos in order of posting date, for your viewing pleasure:

• Anonymous Message Of 2012
• Anonymous - Message To The NSA
• Anonymous #Operation Restore (States Secede From the Union in 2012)
• LulzSec Returns (this is the one embedded above)
• Anonymous- U.S Troop Murders Innocent Afghani Civilians
• Anonymous - Operation Restore (Part 2 ) Constitutional Court
• Message From Anonymous
• Anonymous: Regarding Attack On London
• Anonymous Hacks Mafia Affiliated Website
• Anonymous UK - Justice For Hollie Greig And Robert Green
• Anonymous #Operation Imperva
• Anonymous Will Target National Infrastructure
• Anonymous: Fawkes Virus 21.12.2012
• Final Boss Of The Internet
• Anonymous Project Mayhem 2012: Global Financial Meltdown
• Anonymous #Project Facebook 21.12.2012
• Anonymous: The End Is Near 21.12.2012
• Anonymous Project Mayhem 2012: Who Watches The Watchmen
• Project Mayhem 2012 Warning

The second hint is related to a supposed Facebook attack. We've been over the fact many times that Anonymous has no desire to attack Facebook (see links below), and somehow I think LulzSec is in the same boat. Oh, and all those attacks scheduled for December 21, 2012 just seem way too far away. LulzSec went on a hacking spree for 50 days straight. They've scheduled the next thing more than 5 days away, followed by something else more than 250 days away?

Thirdly, and most importantly, the Twitter account AnonOps, which has 302,000 followers, has not mentioned Project Mayhem, Project Facebook, Operation Imperva, Operation Restore, or anything else on FawkesSecurity's YouTube account. Furthermore, the Twitter account LulzSec is still silent and lulzsecurity.com is still down.

Of course, I could be completely wrong. Maybe the LulzSec members that remain really do want to talk up a storm before they attack. Maybe LulzSec is coming back with a massive to-do list that it wants everyone to know about. Maybe LulzSec doesn't have access to the Twitter account and has to thus resort to using the FawkesSecurity one instead:

LulzSec Returns For Another Internet Voyage, Expect Us https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX6Z9x-W5wI Anonymous response to Imperva security firm #Operation Imperva Anonymous UK - Justice For Hollie Greig And Robert Green Expect something BIG and rather Lulzworthy very soon. CIA, FBI, Interpol, you're all on teh list Anonymous will target National Infrastructure 2012 #Project Mayhem Anonymous: The End Is Near 21.12.2012 #Project Facebook 21.12.2012 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcoWiX9YfNc Project Mayhem 2012: Global Financial Meltdown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWasVywbEZc Project Mayhem 21.12.2012: OccupyLulz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7DN7p23xxE Nearly finished work on the ''Lulz Lazah'' DDoS tool, Current testing proves three times more effective than LOIC, HOIC and ByteDos.

It almost seems like a very early April Fools' joke. Still, reading about things called Project Mayhem on Pastebin is always fun. So is watching the countdown to The End of Fear.

See also:

• LulzSec disbands: Final cache includes AT&T internal data and 750,000 user accounts
• Anonymous hacks Panda Security in response to LulzSec arrests
• Anonymous is not attacking Facebook today
• Anonymous does not support killing Facebook on November 5
• Anonymous to attack Facebook on January 28 (video)
• Anonymous: no Facebook attack on January 28