The hacker group LulzSec denies it has stolen the entire results of the 2011 census for the United Kingdom, but if someone else has, it endorses the theft.
A posting to Pastebin claims the group -- which has made daily headlines for claiming responsibility over the past few weeks for hacking websites of the CIA, U.S. Senate and the Sony PlayStation Network -- has also stolen the census results and promises to post it online later.
But the LulzSec Twitter feed -- a forum used to distribute information about the group -- has a post denying the group has stolen the data.
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The Twitter denial reads: "Just saw the pastebin of the UK census hack. That wasn't us - don't believe fake LulzSec releases unless we put out a tweet first."
Not that the author of the Twitter feed would mind if LulzSec had hacked the census, as per this tweet: "But hey, if someone out there hacked the UK government in the name of #AntiSec well done sirs!" AntiSec is shorthand for Operation Anti-Security, an effort announced Sunday that calls for stealing and publicly releasing classified government information -- any government.
"Top priority is to steal and leak any classified government information, including email spools and documentation," according to a posting to Pastebin that was later corroborated by the LulzSec Twitter feed. "Prime targets are banks and other high-ranking establishments. If they try to censor our progress, we will obliterate the censor with cannonfire anointed with lizard blood."
The lizard blood reference is apparently part of what the Twitter feed calls the "general lighthearted" tone of its official communications.
Since the group's members don't publicly identify themselves it's hard to know what's coming from them and what's coming from someone else claiming to be them. Generally, though, the group's Twitter account is regarded as disseminating the official word.
The AntiSec declaration says that LulzSec is working with Anonymous -- another amorphous group of hackers, responsible for taking down, hacking or defacing the sites of HBGary Federal, MasterCard, Amazon.com and the former government of Egypt. "To increase efforts, we are now teaming up with the Anonymous collective and all affiliated battleships," says the LulzSec posting to Pastebin.
Meanwhile, police in the United Kingdom have arrested a 19-year-old believed to be a LulzSec member. U.K. officials haven't released the name of the suspect, but say they gathered a significant pile of evidence from a home they searched after the arrest.
Members of Anonymous have run afoul of law enforcement as well, with purported members arrested in Spain and Turkey over the past week.
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