Lulzsec Claims To Have Stolen UK Census Data

Government agencies are checking a claim that prolific hacker group Lulzsec has stolen the entire UK 2011 census data.

The claim, which appeared on Pastebin, has not been confirmed by the group via its official Twitter feed, but if true the volume of data stolen will dwarf any previous loss or theft of data in the UK.

60 million personal details

The population of the UK is over 60m and the law requires every UK householder to respond to the Census with information on every person living or staying in each household on census day.

The stolen information would likely include employment information, income levels, names and addresses and statements on religion.

The Pastebin statement said: “We have blissfully obtained records of every single citizen who gave their records to the security-illiterate UK government for the 2011 census.

“We’re keeping them under lock and key though… so don’t worry about your privacy (…until we finish re-formatting them for release).

“Myself and the rest of my Lulz shipmates will then embark upon a trip to ThePirateBay with our beautiful records for your viewing pleasure!”

When contacted by eWEEK Europe UK, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said: “We are aware of the suggestion that census data has been accessed. We are working with our security advisers and contractors to establish whether there is any substance to this.

“The 2011 Census places the highest priority on maintaining the security of personal data. At this stage we have no evidence to suggest that any such compromise has occurred.”

US-based defence contractor Lockheed Martin, which recently suffered a security breach of  its own, led the consortium of companies that won the £150m contract for supporting the 2011 Census.

the involvement of a US defence contractor aroused opposition from UK-based peace campaigners, who threatened to attack the census with measxureds designed to defeat its paper data processing. However the ONS said at the time that “no US companies or Lockheed Martin employees will have access to the personal data.”

Lulszec yesterday promised to step up attacks against governments, banks and the ‘high establishment,’ in a campaign labeled ‘Operation Anti-Security’ and also announced a partnership with fellow hacktivist group Anonymous.

If the theft is confirmed it represents a huge leap in ambitions for the mischievious hacktivist group. In a matter of weeks the group has gone from targeting the American Xfactor to a big attack on Sony and is now attacking governments departments and agencies in the US and Britain.

Yesterday Lulszec claimed to be behind a distributed denial of service attack on the Serious and Organised Crime Agency’s website, which only just came back online this morning.

Lulzsec’s latest Tweet was made this morning and is a possible reference to the claim to be preparing to leak the Census data on The Pirate Bay: “Our next step is to categorize and format leaked items we acquire and release them in #AntiSec “payloads” on our website and The Pirate Bay.”