More on the pranksters behind the pranks: Q&A with LulzRaft

Posted by Joanna Smith, Ottawa Bureau

On Wednesday I requested an interview with the person or people behind LulzRaft, the Twitter account where alleged hackers claimed responsibility for infiltrating the Conservative Party of Canada website and posting a fake press release about Prime Minister Stephen Harper being rushed to hospital after choking on a hash brown. They subsequently posted a list of names and email addresses they said belonged to Conservative party contributors online.

Wednesday night they replied via email to say they do not do telephone interviews and invited me to send questions instead.

In case you are interested in learning more about the pranksters behind the pranks, here is my short email Q & A with LulzRaft:

1. Why the Conservative party website?

We stumbled across the vulnerability, and realized the potential for lulz. There is no political motivation, nor are we associated with any other group.

2. What was your intent?

Our only intent with this one was to spread lulz. We made sure the article had some holes in it as not to alarm anyone...we just had no idea the media would jump on it so fast without checking facts.

3. Are you Canadian?

For the sake of anonymity, we aren't able to reveal any information about ourselves.

4. Was there anything in particular about the CPC website that made it an easier target?

The vulnerability on the conservative website was rudimentary to say the least. It should never have existed on a site of this size and caliber, and says a lot about their protection of peoples information.

5. What next?

There will definetly be more to follow, but we aren't yet sure where the lulzraft will go. Maybe we'll retreat back down south for a bit.