Anonymous Hits Back Over LulzSec Arrests

The “hacktivist” collective Anonymous had brought down several Panda Security websites yesterday, in response to the alleged part the company played in the arrest of five members of the affiliated group LulzSec.

Multiple domains owned by the fourth largest anti-virus vendor in the world were defaced, along with several other websites (36 in total), their original content replaced with Anonymous statements. The group also stole and published the e-mail credentials of 114 Panda Security employees.

“HERE IT IS THE LULZ”

The attack was prompted by the arrests of five senior LulzSec members, who were identified by their leader. 28-year-old Hector Xavier Monsegur, known online under the nickname Sabu, was charged with aggravated identity theft last year and faced a multi-million dollar fine. He allegedly chose to cooperate with the FBI to stay with his two kids.

“Sabu snitched on us. As usually happens, FBI menaced him to take his sons away. We understand, but we were your family too (remember that you like to say?). It’s sad and we can’t imagine how it feels having to look at the mirror each morning and see the guy who shopped their friends to police”, reads a statement from Anonymous available on PasteBin.

In the attack, Panda Security websites were replaced with a page containing a video tribute to LulzSec, along with the security keys and employee details. It is particularly impressive since Panda is a recognized name in IT security, and Anonymous did not employ the usual DDoS attack.

The group accused Panda Security of earning money working with law enforcement, and being paid to lurk and snitch on Anonymous activists. The group claims the company helped jail 25 activists in various countries, and was actively participating in Anonymous IRC channels trying to “dox” (collect personal information) many others.

Anonymous was especially angry at Luis Corrons, PandaLabs Technical Director, who was among the first to congratulate the FBI on the arrests. “Really good news. I have just read that LulzSec members have been arrested and that their main head Sabu has been working as an informant for the FBI. It turns out he was arrested last year, and since then he has been working with Law Enforcement,” he wrote on his blog.

Shortly after, hackers included links to his personal blog, his Facebook profile, his Twitter profile, and his Google+ profile on each of the defaced pages. “Ohai Pandalabs and FBI. Whose head was cut off? We forgot,” said a twitter message on one of the more official Anonymous feeds.

Almost all Panda Security websites are back to normal, but you can view one of the cached pages here.

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