LulzSec wins hacking competition, refuses $10k award

ibtimes.com | Jun 8th 2011 9:19 AM

LulzSec just defaced another website. It plastered a photo of its infamous mascot squarely in the middle of this page.

The target was Black & Berg Cybersecurity Consulting, a cybersecurity consulting firm that caters to US small businesses and local governments.

But Black & Berg Cybersecurity Consulting really was asking for it. The company hosted a “Cybersecurity For The 21st Century, Hacking Challenge,” for which contestants were asked to change the homepage picture of the company's website.

The reward is $10,000 and a job at the company working with Senior Cybersecurity Advisor Joe Black.

Winner LulzSec, however, declined the money (and presumably the job offer).

“DONE, THAT WAS EASY. KEEP YOUR MONEY WE DO IT FOR THE LULZ,” wrote LulzSec on the defaced website.

While LulzSec does have a history of hacking for “lulz,” it also claimed to be operating under a tight budget. It also previously solicited donations (and claimed to have received over $7,000 in BitCoin) from the online community. Nevertheless, the $10,000 reward was turned down this time for whatever reason.

Joe Black of Black & Berg Cybersecurity Consulting had this to say about LulzSec via Twitter: “Black & Berg Cybersecurity Consulting appreciate all the hard work that you're putting in. Your Hacking = Clients for us. Thx.”

In an emailed statement to IBTimes, Black said: “What can I say? We're good, they're better.”

When asked what method LulzSec used to hack his company, he said: “I'm going to go with reconnaissance, scanning, gain access, maintain access, and cover tracks.”

LulzSec first gained infamy for hacking PBS and posting a bogus story of Tupac being alive. Its next big target was Sony, which it hacked, took information from, and then published that information online. LulzSec claims to have “owned” Sony with “a very simple SQL injection, one of the most primitive and common vulnerabilities.”