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They have attacked the CIA, FBI and Sony, boasting as the wreak
havoc across the internet.

But now hacking group LulzSec have announced on Twitter they
are to disband - with the authorities fast closing in on them.

LulzSec, who are a splinter group of the more benign 'Anonymous'
hacking ring, have themselves come under attack over the last few
days with all six members outed by fellow hackers.

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They have attacked the CIA, FBI and Sony, boasting as the
wreak havoc across the internet.

But now hacking group LulzSec have announced on Twitter
they are to disband - with the authorities fast closing in on them.

LulzSec, who are a splinter group of the more benign 'Anonymous'
hacking ring, have themselves come under attack over the last
few days with all six members outed by fellow hackers.

Announcement: Lulzsec announced their disbandment last night
The group's disbandment comes unexpectedly after days of
mounting pressure from the FBI.

In an interview on Friday, a LulzSec member gave no indication
that its work was ending.

In a typically quirky statement issued at midnight last night,
the group said: '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.

'It's what we all crave, even the seemingly lifeless politicians
and emotionless, middle-aged self-titled failures.

'Even Hitler and Osama Bin Laden had these unique variations
and style, and isn't that interesting to know?

'The mediocre painter turned supervillain liked cats more than we did.
'Please don't stop. Together, united, we can stomp down our
common oppressors and imbue ourselves with the power and
freedom we deserve.'

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Caught: Ryan Cleary has been charged with hacking the
British SOCA website as well as International Federation of
the Phonographic Industry

LulzSec claimed hacks on major entertainment companies,
FBI partner organisations, the CIA, the US Senate and a pornography website.

In Britain, Ryan Cleary, 19, of South Beech Avenue, Wickford,
Essex, was arrested at his family home on Monday as part of
a Scotland Yard and FBI probe into LulzSec.

He is charged with conspiring with other people on or before
June 20 to create a remotely controlled network of zombie
computers, known as a 'botnet', to carry out distributed denial
of service (DDoS) attacks, where websites are flooded with
traffic to make them crash.

He is also alleged to have carried out similar attacks against
the British Phonographic Industry's website and the International
Federation of the Phonographic Industry's website on or
before June 20.

In an unusual strategy for a hacker group, LulzSec has used
Twitter as a publicity platform while remaining anonymous.