By John Leyden • Get more from this author
Posted in Enterprise Security, 7th February 2011 10:15 GMT
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The Anonymous hacking collective took revenge on a security firm that had investigated its membership on Sunday.
HBGary Federal has been seeking to uncloak the identities of senior members of Anonymous involved in attacks against financial services firms, such as PayPal and Mastercard, that had suspended accounts run by WikiLeaks. The security consultancy had infiltrated IRC chat sessions and Facebook groups used by core members of the Anonymous collective. HBGary Federal wanted to present its research at an upcoming security conference.
In response, Anonymous did a number on HBGary by hacking into its email system and uploading 60,000 emails onto file-sharing networks. Anonymous also defaced HBGary’s website with an image explaining their motives as well as taking over the Twitter feed of HBGary’s chief exec, Aaron Barr, to tweet abuse as well as supposed details of his home address and social security number. LinkedIn accounts of other senior HBGary execs were also targeted for attack.