After nearly two months of constant, exhaustive cyber-attacks on corporations and government agencies all around the world, hacker group Lulzsec says it is going away.
The announcement comes via the six-person group's "50 Days of Lulz" letter. The statement begins with a sort-of explanation of the group's wide-ranging attacks:
"For the past 50 days we've been disrupting and exposing corporations, governments, often the general population itself, and quite possibly everything in between, just because we could. All to selflessly entertain others - vanity, fame, recognition, all of these things are shadowed by our desire for that which we all love. The raw, uninterrupted, chaotic thrill of entertainment and anarchy."
Following a plea for others to continue the fight for the Anti Security Movement, the statement suggests that Lulzsec had planned from the start to only be around for 50 days and is now done:
"So with those last thoughts, it's time to say bon voyage. Our planned 50 day cruise has expired, and we must now sail into the distance, leaving behind - we hope - inspiration, fear, denial, happiness, approval, disapproval, mockery, embarrassment, thoughtfulness, jealousy, hate, even love. If anything, we hope we had a microscopic impact on someone, somewhere. Anywhere."
The statement also included a final release of information from a number of sources -- most significantly, internal documents from AT&T.
MSNBC's write-up notes that this statement comes just after last Tuesday's arrest of 19-year-old British hacker Ryan Cleary, who supposedly has ties to both Lulzsec and Anonymous. Lulzsec has stated that Cleary is not that close to them, but some have speculated that increasing law enforcement attention may have pushed Lulzsec members into backing off.
Personally, I'm just pleased that I'll maybe get to stop writing a new "GAME COMPANY GETS HACKED" headline every couple of days