LulzSec, the mysterious hacker group who have claimed responsibility for a number of high profile web site attacks over the past week, are now accused of dealing in blackmail as well. As reported by CNet"s News.com, Karim Hijazi, the CEO of the botnet-tracking company Unveillance, said that he was contacted by LulzSec last week. He claims the hacker group threatened to release personal info about Hijazi. The group would keep that info to themselves if Hijazi told them about "the whereabouts of compromised computers on the Internet." Those computers might be used to attack other web sites.
Hijazi said he refused to give that info to the hacker group. As a result, LulzSec this week released "his personal contact information, e-mails, and chat logs." Hijazi says he does not believe this will impact his business, saying, " ... it just sucks for my family and me." In their own statement about this latest development, LulzSec claims that, " ... we were never going to extort anything from you. We were simply going to pressure you into a position where you could be willing to give us money for our silence, and then expose you publicly." The group also claims that Hijazi actually offered to pay LulzSec for "destroying" his company"s competitors.
According to News.com"s report, this was a part of the hacker group"s attack against InfraGard, a company affiliated with the FBI. Earlier this week Lulzsec defaced the PBS.org news site with a story claiming that the late rapper Tupac Shakur was still alive. The group is also confirmed with an attack on the Sony Pictures and Sony BMG web sites this week which resulted in the group taking the personal info of over 1 million people.