In fact, LulzSec itself may have been the impetus for Monday's raid. Last week the group turned against two of its former members and published personal information about them, saying they were responsible for computer crimes and encouraging the FBI to investigate. LulzSec was angry because it believed the two had published chat logs exposing some of its inner workings.
One of those two, who uses the hacker names [redacted] and m_nerva, was a resident of Hamilton, Ohio -- the town where Monday's search warrant was executed.
LulzSec has been the target of an international law enforcement search after the group hacked websites belonging to U.K. Serious Organised Crime Agency, the U.S. Public Broadcasting Service, Sony, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and several FBI-affiliated groups.
It was this mounting pressure from law enforcement that finally caused LulzSec to disband, said E.J. Hilbert, president of Online Intelligence and a former FBI agent who has been following the group closely. "LulzSec was a group of punk kids out to have some fun that just kept pushing and pushing and they took it too far," he said.
Several members have already been in contact with law enforcement, Hilbert said. "Their members will be picked off one by one if they haven't already been, and I know some of them already have been," he said.