Why 'rockstar hackers' LulzSec disbanded: 4 theories

The tech-smart collective unexpectedly calls it quits, after successfully hacking Sony, the CIA, and the U.S. Senate. Why quit when you're ahead?

In a Twitter message, hacker group Lulz Security, said they are no more, "our planned 50 day cruise has expired, and we must now sail into the distance."
(Image credit: Twitter @LulzSec)

Members of the shadowy but media-savvy hacking collective Lulz Security, or LulzSec, announced their group's dissolution on Saturday, in a Twitter message to 280,000 followers. In their 50 days of activity, the publicity-seeking group had successfully hacked the websites of the CIA, the U.S. Senate, Britain's Serious Organized Crime Agency, Sony, PBS, and other high-profile targets. And while LulzSec came to embrace politically motivated hacking, they also hacked sites and disseminated stolen information just for the "lulz," or laughs. If it was so much fun, why did LulzSec suddenly and mysteriously disappear? Here, four theories:

1. The law was closing in

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