LulzSec, Anonymous Hit PayPal in First of Three-Stage Strike

AntiSec hackers Anonymous and LulzSec have mounted a fresh three-stage campaign against PayPal, promising a subsequent follow-up attack on eBay.

The new three-stage campaign was first announced last night via one of Anonymous' Twitter accounts.

The legal protest has seen Anonymous and LulzSec call for any and all like-minded individuals to cancel their PayPal accounts. The protest reportedly began as a response to the FBI's arrest of and PayPal's subsequent lawsuit against Mercedes Renee Haefer -- known as NO online.

The American journalism student was arrested by the FBI earlier this month for suspected involvement in a number of Anonymous-led cyber-attacks. PayPal is currently targeting her for alleged involvement in Anonymous' #operationpayback attack. The operation saw the group target PayPal after the company blocked payments to WikiLeaks.

While the "protest" against PayPal is completely legal, Anonymous has since indicated that future, more direct attacks on the company are planned.

In a series of tweets following its initial statement the group commented:

"Govts, PayPal, etc: You are only learning the beginning of what we are capable of. We do not want this: http://youtu.be/E9VhD4SccSE Do you?

"We cannot only do more than DDOS we can do less than DDOS and both methods will cause you lots of headaches in the future. Expect us."

Later adding: "Ohai @Paypal. You raped your customers for years. How does it feel to get raped back, just a little bit? But we promise: Just the beginning."

The group subsequently revealed that the initial protest was only the first step of its three stage plan, tweeting:

"An advice to all allied ships: Should you have EBAY shares, it would be a good time to get rid of them. Better now than in Stage 2 or 3."

As well as revealing that the attack would also see the group target eBay -- a company that relies heavily on PayPal to process payments between its users -- the statement also alluded to a future move back to its hacker roots.

The group has not clarified when, or in what form the next two stages will appear, though a tweet made Tuesday night when the campaign was first announced indicated September as a pivotal moment in the campaign:

"Oh yes, please cash out of #PayPal, just as a symbolic gesture. What else are we capable of? Wait for September to find out. #AntiSec"