When LulzSec closed up shop over the weekend, there were questions as to whether they were running from the authorities. Though no LulzSec-specific arrests have been made, it appears that U.S. authorities are actively pursuing those carrying out these types of hacks.
In an interview with Gawker, 29-year-old Laurelai Bailey said her Iowa home was raided last week by FBI agents looking for dirt on hackers with whom Bailey had been associating. The agents were reportedly looking into the February cyber attack on HBGary Federal carried out by Anonymous.
Bailey said the FBI was there for five hours, and took hard drives, a camera, and other equipment. The agents also asked her if she could infiltrate the hacking community, indicating a particular interest in a hacker known as "Kayla." As far as LulzSec goes, however, Bailey is not exactly their favorite person because she leaked the IRC logs detailing the HBGary Federal attack.
The reported Twitter account for "Kayla" includes a message that says users reaching the feed via Gawker "just got trolled." The LulzSec Exposed blog also claims the raid never happened.
Bailey denied being involved in any illegal hacking activity.
Among one of LulzSec's final targets, meanwhile, was the Arizona Department of Public Safety. In a Monday statement, the agency said LulzSec's demise does not mean it will stop its investigation.
"While the department noted that LulzSec has decided to disband, it does not diminish the intrusion into the privacy of our officers and the release of sensitive information. Nor does this relieve them of their criminal responsibility which may include both federal and state charges," the department said.
The department's email system was compromised during the week of June 20, and data from that system was posted online. "There is no evidence the attack has breached the servers or computer systems of DPS, nor the larger state network. Likewise, there is no evidence that DPS records related to ongoing investigations or other sensitive matters have been compromised," officials said.
At this point, remote access to DPS email remains frozen and the agency now has 24-7 monitoring of its Internet gateway.
For more, see PCMag's Guide to Knowing Your Hackers, as well as 50 Days of Mayhem: How LulzSec Changed Hacktivism Forever, and Did LulzSec Change the Hacking Game, or Just Get Lucky?
Update: The Anonymous collective on Wednesday released a new batch of data stolen from the Arizona Department of Public Safety, which includes everything from Social Security numbers to voicemails.