Newsnight online 'chat' with Lulz Security hacking group

The CIA website was reported to have come under attack by Lulz Security hackers earlier this month

The Lulz Security hacking group that has claimed attacks on high-profile targets including the CIA and Sony in recent weeks has exclusively told the BBC's Newsnight programme that it wants to target the "higher ups" who write the rules and "bring them down a few notches".

Lulzsec has claimed a new scalp - releasing confidential material taken from the Arizona police department.

The anonymous hacking group says they've not been knocked off course, or successfully exposed, by rival hackers who claim to have named them online - apparently because they object to their agenda.

This agenda seems to have evolved. When they started out, two months ago, they said they were mainly hacking "for laughs".

In an online Q&A, Whirlpool, the spokesman for Lulzsec, who describes himself as "captain of the Lulz Boat", agreed that their goals now go beyond that: "Politically motivated ethical hacking is more fulfilling".

We weren't able to talk to Whirlpool in person, but met in cyberspace in a private online chat room. In those circumstances it's almost impossible to verify with absolute certainty who you are speaking to, but Newsnight was able to verify that this person had access to the @Lulzsec Twitter feed.

Here are some other edited highlights from the online chat, which began with a question about the Antisec movement to which Lulzsec seem recently to have aligned themselves.

What is Operation Antisec in your own words?

We saw the Arizona material should we expect more today?

What do you mean by "who deem themselves oppressors"?

Is it the wrong rules? Or the wrong people making the rules? Would you be ok with rules, but more transparency also?

So copyright is one of your issues, but that's not why you attacked Arizona police. Can you explain?

So immigration- quite a leap from copyright - your agenda seems quite broad? It's not just about how they handle information then?

Let me ask you about your name - Lulz - making people think at first glance that you're doing all this "for laughs"... Are you getting more serious? Or was the lulz a misconception/misunderstanding?

That's quite a balance to maintain. Some attracted by the Antisec agenda might be put off by the Lulz.

So why are they (other hackers) attacking you and claiming to expose you? Is it because of your actions or your agenda? Or just for attention?

I suppose what is interesting to many now is that you have a serious agenda but you're also in it for Lulz. Will there come a time when you have to chose between them? They don't seem to sit well together if you care what the outside world thinks of you.