LulzSec hits Brazilian government sites

Brazil's government portal and presidential website became inaccessible to Internet users Wednesday noon (Manila time), with hacker group LulzSec claiming credit for it. In messages on its Twitter account, LulzSec lauded its "brothers" in Brazil for attacking the sites www.brasil.gov.br and presidencia.gov.br. "TANGO DOWN http://t.co/HYGPWfv & http://t.co/ptzPCJw LulzSecBrazil," it said. As of 1:37 p.m. Manila time, visitors to the two attacked websites received error messages indicating a timeout. "Our Brazilian unit is making progress. Well done @LulzSecBrazil, brothers!" the group cheered. Wednesday's hacks were the latest in a series of attacks on government websites that included the US Central Intelligence Agency and the UK Serious Organised Crimes Agency. Earlier this week, a teen hacker was arrested in the United Kingdom, but LulzSec claimed the arrested hacker was not its member. LulzSec Facebook scam Meanwhile, a computer security firm said that curiosity about the arrested hacker in the UK has prompted a scam on social networking site Facebook. Sophos said that photos of a pixellated man being led away from a building by two pixellated people are circulating on Facebook, along with a link to Sophos' Naked Security story about the arrest. "Sharing and liking the page, followed by clicking on the link, led me to third-party webpages that urged me to download a program called iLividSetupV1.exe that attempted to install a series of toolbars," Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluley said in a blog post. He theorized those behind the scam may be earning commission the more people they convince to install the software. "So far, this scam is far from widespread - but it's certainly inventive to exploit the breaking news story of the suspected hacker being arrested in the UK," he said. As for the photograph, Cluley said it was that of a Turkish hacker, Mert Ortac, who was arrested in late 2008. — TJD, GMA News