The website of Ireland's top Catholic newspaper was defaced last Sunday night (Sept. 11) with a sarcastic missive patronizing the religion and its followers.
Plastered across The Irish Catholic's website, www.irishcatholic.ie, the message read, "The Irish Catholic — Ireland's biggest and best-selling Catholic newspaper since 1888 is currently hacked. We should be back shortly. Thank you for your patience. And wish you to continue believing in your false religion."
As reported by The Register, the short jab started with a header reading "You. Got. Taken." and ended with a single sentence at the bottom of the screen: "Gotta love false hope."
The hacker or hackers went on to criticize the site's administrator by name for allowing the security breach to happen, writing, "Get your act together. Several large sites on one server? Not a smart move Aidan Murphy. Watch your data."
The combination of sarcastic humor and watchdog mentality on display in this hack is similar to the exploits of Lulz Security (LulzSec).
Along with several malicious online attacks (Fox Broadcasting Company, the U.S. Senate, PBS), the freewheeling hacking group occasionally took time out to alert organizations, such as the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) to vulnerabilities that needed to be fixed.
There is no evidence, however, that LulzSec is associated with The Irish Catholic hack.