Anonymous hacks NATO

Anonymous posted on it’s twitter account that it has hacked NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and retrieved about one Gigabyte of data. As of now they’ve only posted a couple of documents one of which was uploaded to pdfhost.net which at the time of writing is currently down and unreachable and another was uploaded to pdfcast.org but was ultimately removed for violating the sites ToS (Terms of Service). Though they have almost a Gigabyte of data, anonymous said they will not publish most of it because it “would be irresponsible.”
The first document released was dated August 27th 2007 and labeled “NATO Restricted” , it looked to be working documentation on communication systems at the Joint Communications Control Centre for ISAF forces in Afghanistan. The second document released was dated 2008 and was also marked “NATO Restricted”, detailing proposals for outsourcing communications systems for NATO forces in Kosovo. A third document has since been released using the file sharing site Wikisend and is dated June 17th 2002. Un-like the previous two released PDF’s this one is marked “NATO Unclassified” and contains guidelines for “Security within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.” Guidelines for personnel and physical assets as well as how data/information/documentation should be secured, stored and protected were detailed within the PDF.

In response to the rambunctious claims from Annoymous, NATO has released the following statement “NATO is aware that a hackers group has released what it claims to be NATO classified documents on the Internet. NATO security experts are investigating these claims. We strongly condemn any leak of classified documents, which can potentially endanger the security of NATO Allies, armed forces and citizens.” The attack on NATO follows a June report which NATO suggested that the hackers were a “threat to society and would be caught” and “It remains to be seen how much time Anonymous has for pursuing such paths. The longer these attacks persist the more likely countermeasures will be developed, implemented, the groups will be infiltrated and perpetrators persecuted.”

Anonymous promised to release more information from NATO over the next few days while also backtracking on releasing emails obtained from Rupert Murdoch’s U.K. based tabloid newspaper The Sun — believing that doing so could compromise the current case against the tabloid surrounding mobile phone interceptions and police bribes. Instead of it’s normal approach of making stolen data accessible, LulzSec stated on it’s twitter account “We’re currently working with certain media outlets who have been granted exclusive access to some of the News of the World emails we have.”

All of this ensues a multitude of arrests made by the FBI in the U.S. as well as the British and Dutch police. Earlier this month police in Italy and Switzerland searched more than 30 apartments in a coordinated effort to pinch down on Anonymous. The FBI arrests totalled 16 and according to papers obtained by the Wall Street Journal included “men in their 20s and early 30s with aliases such as Toxic, Absolem and Reaper.” They also claim “Two others were charged with separate cyber-crimes. One man hacked into InfraGard, a partnership of companies and government entities for critical infrastructure protection sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” Most notable of all the arrests could possibly be the one made by the Metropolitan Police’s E-Crime Unit in London which resulted in a 16-year-old boy in South London being arrested. US law enforcement officials confirmed to FoxNews.com that the arrested juvenile goes by the online user name Tflow which has ties to the splinter group of hackers, LulzSec. Tflow has been one of the aliases cited in many archived IRC chat logs that have been released by defectors of the group and rival “hacktivists” and played an integral role in many of Anonymous and LulzSec’s operations.