Hackers group eavesdropped on FBI call
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WASHINGTON -- The international hackers group known as Anonymous turned the tables on the FBI by listening in on a conference call last month between the bureau, Scotland Yard and other police agencies about their joint investigation of the group and its allies.
Anonymous on Friday posted a 16-minute recording of the conference call on the Web and crowed about the episode via Twitter: "The FBI might be curious how we're able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now."
An FBI official said Anonymous had not hacked into the conference call or any other bureau facilities. Instead, the group had obtained an email giving the time, telephone number and access code for the call. The email had been sent Jan. 13 to more than three dozen people at the bureau, Scotland Yard and agencies in France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands and Sweden.
One recipient, a foreign police official, evidently forwarded the notification to a private account, the official said, and it was then intercepted by Anonymous. "It's not really that sophisticated," said the official, who would comment only on condition of anonymity. He said no FBI system was compromised.
The bureau in a statement confirmed the intrusion: "The information was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained. A criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible."
The breach, clearly an embarrassment for investigators, is the latest chapter in a contest between hacking groups and their perceived law enforcement and corporate world foes.
The FBI email titled "Anon-Lulz International Coordination Call" -- a reference to Anonymous and to an allied group of hackers, Lulz Security -- announced a conference call for investigators "to discuss the ongoing investigations related to Anonymous, Lulzsec, Antisec and other associated splinter groups."
The recording posted on YouTube and elsewhere on the Web included U.S. and British voices discussing suspects in the case.
A British official refers to Ryan Cleary and Jake Davis, two arrested British teenagers wanted in the United States on suspicion of ties to Anonymous. The British official cites a 325-page report analyzing Mr. Cleary's hard drive.
First Published February 4, 2012 12:00 am
