Anonymous strikes 'unprotected' U.S. defense consulting firm

by Steven Mostyn - Jul 12 2011, 08:28

So you thought the last few days of comparative peace and quiet meant a possible end to months of unsavoury activity from certain portions of the online hacking community. Think again.

More pointedly, hacking group Anonymous has today claimed responsibility for an embarrassing data breach carried out on Monday against U.S. defense consulting specialist Booz Allen Hamilton.

The attack in question, which apparently targeted an unprotected server, resulted in the removal and release of a file containing the personal details (email addresses and passwords) of some 90,000 people.

According to Anonymous, Booz Allen Hamilton fell as part of “Meltdown Monday” in its controversial “AntiSec” security movement, and has become the latest prominent outfit to be found wanting where online security is concerned.

“So in this line of work you’d expect [Booz Allen Hamilton] to sail the seven proxseas with a state-of-the-art battleship, right?” chided Anonymous regarding the attack.

“Well, you may be as surprised as we were when we found their vessel being a puny wooden barge,” the revered hackers added. “We infiltrated a server in their network that basically has no security measures in place.”

Security experts have reacted to the group’s latest hack by saying the pilfered information could be used by others to create and deliver malicious emails designed to dupe recipients into divulging potentially sensitive military information.

A related blog post issued by leading security firm Sophos said that Anonymous claims to have wiped around four gigabytes of Booz Allen Hamilton’s source code and unveiled information that could help attackers target other systems connected to the U.S. government.

Around the Web