Online hacker group Lulz Security (LulzSec) and hacktivist group Anonymous have announced the "AntiSec" campaign against Internet regulation by governments across the world.

The two most prominent hacker groups in the Web world said that they will work together in their attacks against targets related to government such as banks. The groups have also urged people to steal and leak classified information.

LulzSec said in a statement, "Our Lulz Lizard battle fleet is now declaring immediate and unremitting war on the freedom-snatching moderators of 2011."

Governments around the world are tightening their grip on cyber crime and hacking. The Pentagon has called cyber attacks as acts of war. The Obama administration is pressing Congress to approve a bill which will allow the present 10-years maximum punishment for hacking to be raised to 20 years. Japan has added new laws with stiffer punishments for hacking as well. New Zealand and Malaysia have also taken stern action against online piracy in recent days.

After claiming responsibility for the recent attack on senate.gov, a government website in the US, LulzSec had asked, "Is this an act of war, gentlemen?"

Now in its Web manifesto against governments, LulzSec said the "Top priority is to steal and leak any classified government information, including email spools and documentation…Prime targets are banks and other high-ranking establishments. If they try to censor our progress, we will obliterate the censor with cannonfire anointed with lizard blood."

The group added, "DDoS is of course our least powerful and most abundant ammunition. Government hacking is taking place right now behind the scenes."

The latest victim of the onslaught by LulzSec, which has targeted Sony, InfraGard and PBS in the past, is FBI partner organisation Connecticut InfraGard. The group said they compromised the security of more than 1,000 accounts of the organisation. Connecticut InfraGard’s website was down Monday afternoon.

Meanwhile in the UK, the website of Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), which had identified the Trojan virus infection in Virgin Media PC users, was down after a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.

LulzSec is believed to be an offshoot of the more serious Anonymous group, which was active after the WikiLeaks scandal hit governments across the world late last year, prompting the US to arrest people associated with the whistleblower website.

Financial institutions and banks withdrew their services for WikiLeaks. In response, Anonymous struck Visa and PayPal websites. It also leaked emails of Bank of America and targeted governments and government agencies across the world including Egypt, Italy, Turkey and HB Gary.

Anonymous is also believed to behind the Sony hack in April, which is considered to be the biggest hack in online history. The group has, however, denied such claims. Recently, Spanish police claimed that they have detained key leaders of Anonymous, which was denied by the hacktivist group.

Unlike Anonymous, LulzSec claims that it attacks to warn people of vulnerabilities and also for entertainment. Last week it announced a hotline phone for people to suggest targets.

To mark their thousandth tweet, the group wrote, "This is Lulz Security, better known as those evil bastards from twitter. We just hit 1000 tweets, and as such we thought it best to have a little chit-chat with our friends (and foes)."

"For the past month and a bit, we’ve been causing mayhem and chaos throughout the Internet, attacking several targets including PBS, Sony, Fox, porn websites, FBI, CIA, the U.S. government, Sony some more, online gaming servers (by request of callers, not by our own choice), Sony again, and of course our good friend Sony.

"While we’ve gained many, many supporters, we do have a mass of enemies, albeit mainly gamers. The main anti-LulzSec argument suggests that we’re going to bring down more Internet laws by continuing our public shenanigans, and that our actions are causing clowns with pens to write new rules for you. But what if we just hadn’t released anything? What if we were silent? That would mean we would be secretly inside FBI affiliates right now, inside PBS, inside Sony… watching… abusing…

"You find it funny to watch havoc unfold, and we find it funny to cause it. We release personal data so that equally evil people can entertain us with what they do with it."