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iPhone 5 and iPad 3 set for 4G, according to LulzSec's final hack

The hackers of protest group LulzSec have called it quits amid growing pressure from law enforcement, but not before releasing documents that hint at a 4G iPhone 5 and iPad 3.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
Expertise Films, TV, Movies, Television, Technology
Richard Trenholm
2 min read

The hackers of protest group LulzSec have hung up their black tophats and monocles. The anonymous team of dandy hackers has called it quits amid growing pressure from media and law enforcement types, but not before releasing documents that hint at a 4G iPhone 5 and iPad 3.

The "crew of six" sends a "shout-out to all of our battlefleet members and supporters across the globe" in a final press release, saying, "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."

The group published documents from US phone company AT&T that reveals the network's plans for the expansion of LTE -- also known as 4G, the next generation of Internet access on your mobile phone or tablet. The iPhone and iPad are mentioned, suggesting they could have 4G on board.

Several networks have built 4G coverage in the US, but sadly, we're still a long way off getting any kind of 4G in this country.

LulzSec sailed into controversy when it hacked Sony shortly after the gaming giant restored its online services with supposedly improved security. Sony had previously suffered a breach that saw the personal and financial details of over 100 million users stolen.

The top-hatted hackers went on to compromise Nintendo, several games companies and a number of law-enforcement agencies in the US and UK. They even went so far as to claim bringing down the CIA website was "really very simple".

The group denied hacking the UK census, which threw the issue into sharp relief: mucking about with the CIA sounds like anti-imperialist shenanigans, but the census involves real information on all of us. We provide it to the government under strict restrictions on what can be done with that data, not to some hackers with a chip on their shoulders.

LulzSec may have sailed off into the horizon, but other groups are stepping into the headlines. The amorphous anarchic collective Anonymous is also known to employ hacking and DDoS tactics, and another group, Team Poison, has reportedly stolen and published private documents from former prime minister Tony Blair.

19-year-old Ryan Cleary, from Essex, has been arrested in connection with the LulzSec hacks, but is not a member of the group.