StratFor hacked by Anonymous

[Enki]

http://geektech.in/archives/6917

Since many of you probably have StratFor accounts, this affects you.

[YMix]

[Enki]

Supposedly they plan to release all the private info of StratFor, so I am letting everyone know to protect themselves from ID theft.

[Jnalum Persicum]

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Supposedly they plan to release all the private info of StratFor, so I am letting everyone know to protect themselves from ID theft.

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'Anonymous' hackers target US security think tank

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. . One hacker said the goal was to pilfer funds from individuals' accounts to give away as Christmas donations, and some victims confirmed unauthorized transactions linked to their credit cards.

Anonymous boasted of stealing Stratfor's confidential client list, which includes entities ranging from Apple to the U.S. Air Force to the Miami Police Department, and mining it for more than 4,000 credit card numbers, passwords and home addresses.

"Not so private and secret anymore?" the group taunted in a message on Twitter, promising that the attack on Stratfor was just the beginning of a Christmas-inspired assault on a long list of targets.

Anonymous said the client list it posted was a small slice of the 200 gigabytes worth of plunder it stole from Stratfor and promised more leaks. It said it was able to get the credit details in part because Stratfor didn't bother encrypting them — an easy-to-avoid blunder which, if true, would be a major embarrassment for any security-related company.

Austin, Texas-based Stratfor provides political, economic and military analysis to help clients reduce risk, according to a description on its YouTube page. It charges subscribers for its reports and analysis, delivered through the web, emails and videos.

Lt. Col. John Dorrian, public affairs officer for the Air Force, said that "for obvious reasons" the Air Force doesn't discuss specific vulnerabilities, threats or responses to them.

"The Air Force will continue to monitor the situation and, as always, take appropriate action as necessary to protect Air Force networks and information," he said in an email.

Miami Police Department spokesman Sgt. Freddie Cruz Jr. said that he could not confirm that the agency was a client of Stratfor, and he said he had not received any information about a security breach involving the police department.

It soon became clear that proprietary information about the companies and government agencies that subscribe to Stratfor's newsletters did not appear to be at any significant risk, and that the main threat was posed to individual employees.

Hours after publishing what it claimed was Stratfor's client list, Anonymous tweeted a link to encrypted files online with the names, addresses and account details.

"Not as many as you expected? Worry not, fellow pirates and robin hoods. These are just the "A''s," read a message posted online that encouraged readers to download a file of the hacked information.

It also linked to images online that it suggested were receipts for charitable donations made by the group manipulating the credit card data it stole.

"Thank you! Defense Intelligence Agency," read the text above one image that appeared to show a transaction summary indicating that an agency employee's information was used to donate $250 to a non-profit.

One receipt — to the American Red Cross — had Allen Barr's name on it.

Barr, of Austin, Texas, recently retired from the Texas Department of Banking and said he discovered last Friday that a total of $700 had been spent from his account. Barr, who has spent more than a decade dealing with cybercrime at banks, said five transactions were made in total.

"It was all charities, the Red Cross, CARE, Save the Children. So when the credit card company called my wife she wasn't sure whether I was just donating," said Barr, who wasn't aware until a reporter with the AP called that his information had been compromised when Stratfor's computers were hacked.

"It made me feel terrible. It made my wife feel terrible. We had to close the account."

Stratfor said in an email to members that it had suspended its servers and email after learning that its website had been hacked.

"We have reason to believe that the names of our corporate subscribers have been posted on other web sites," said the email, passed on to The Associated Press by subscribers. "We are diligently investigating the extent to which subscriber information may have been obtained."

The email, signed by Stratfor Chief Executive George Friedman, said the company is "working closely with law enforcement to identify who is behind the breach."

"Stratfor's relationship with its members and, in particular, the confidentiality of their subscriber information, are very important to Stratfor and me," Friedman wrote.

Repeated calls to Stratfor went unanswered Sunday and an answering machine thanked callers for contacting the "No. 1 source for global intelligence." Stratfor's website was down, with a banner saying "site is currently undergoing maintenance."

Wishing everyone a "Merry LulzXMas" — a nod to its spinoff hacking group Lulz Security — Anonymous also posted a link on Twitter to a site containing the email, phone number and credit number of a U.S. Homeland Security employee.

The employee, Cody Sultenfuss, said he had no warning before his details were posted.

"They took money I did not have," he told the AP in a series of emails, which did not specify the amount taken. "I think 'Why me?' I am not rich."

One member of the hacking group, who uses the handle AnonymousAbu on Twitter, claimed that more than 90,000 credit cards from law enforcement, the intelligence community and journalists — "corporate/exec accounts of people like Fox" news — had been hacked and used to "steal a million dollars" and make donations.

It was impossible to verify where credit card details were used. Fox News was not on the excerpted list of Stratfor members posted online, but other media organizations including MSNBC and Al-Jazeera English appeared in the file.

Anonymous warned it has "enough targets lined up to extend the fun fun fun of LulzXmas through the entire next week."

The group has previously claimed responsibility for attacks on companies such as Visa, MasterCard and PayPal, as well as others in the music industry and the Church of Scientology

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Anonymous boasted of stealing Stratfor's confidential client list – which includes entities including Apple, the US air force and the Miami police department – and mining it for more than 4,000 credit card numbers, passwords and home addresses.


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[Nonc Hilaire]

Stratfor a U.S. Security Think Tank ? LOLOLOLOLOLOL!

Anonymous' bragging rights are overstated exponentially. This only reinforces the claim Anonymous is a false flag effort to promote internet censorship.

And donations sent to the ARC - a GOP managed NGO. Laughable in the extreme. No real damage here at all.

[Enki]

StratFor is a security firm that does consulting. Their publication is only part of it.

[Hans Bulvai]

Interesting Al-Jazeera is a client...

[Hoosiernorm]

There's a reason China didn't do it first. It isn't worth doing

[Jnalum Persicum]

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What did hackers get ?

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The private firm provides analysis of geopolitical and security issues to clients who range from the US military to large corporations.
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The online infiltrators released thousands of credit card details, passwords, and home addresses from Stratfor's private client list, via the information-sharing website Pastebin.
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This data breach is not just embarrassing for a prominent purveyor of intelligence, but also potentially worrisome for Stratfor's clients.

Stratfor is in damage-control mode following the breach. Its website is closed for maintenance. It has warned clients via e-mail about the risk to data such as credit cards. It is working with law enforcement to pursue the data thieves.

The firm also sought to reassure clients that the hackers did not gain access to all types of data.

"Contrary to this assertion the disclosure was merely a list of some of the members that have purchased our publications and does not comprise a list of individuals or entities that have a relationship with Stratfor beyond their purchase of our subscription-based publications," the firm said in an e-mail to members on Christmas Day, according to news reports.

The hackers announced their intention to use the credit cards for charitable donations. Experts on data security say that any "Robin Hood" goal of the attack will likely backfire.

"These actions will just end up hurting the charities, not helping them," writes Mikko Hypponen of F-Secure in a blog post. "When credit card owners see unauthorized charges on their cards, they will report them to their bank or credit card company. Credit card companies will do a chargeback to the charities, which will have to return the money. In some cases, charities could be hit with with penalties. At the very least, they will lose time and money in handling chargebacks."

One goal of the hack may be to harass an array of Stratfor clients who include members of the US military and intelligence communities.

Mixed signals about the role of Anonymous emerged Saturday, as some online posts denied the group was behind the attack.

A statement purporting to come from Anonymous said the group would not target Stratfor. "As a media source, Stratfor's work is protected by the freedom of press, a principle which Anonymous values greatly," the statement said. It said the perpetrators were seeking to portray Stratfor "in false light as a company which engages in activity similar to HBGary."

The data security firm HBGary faced a cyberattack earlier this year, after one of its executives said publicly that he hoped to identify members of Anonymous.

Whoever is behind the attack, the incident underscores the vulnerabilities in computer networks that hackers can exploit.

The issue of cybersecurity has grown increasingly important to both government and corporations, and some members of Congress are calling for greater cooperation between the public and private sectors.

Two weeks ago, Rep. Peter King (R) of New York and Dan Lungren (R) of California introduced a bill that, Mr. King said, is designed to protect "our critical infrastructure without a heavy-handed and burdensome regulatory approach that could cost American jobs."

The Promoting and Enhancing Cybersecurity and Information Sharing Effectiveness Act (PrECISE Act), would set up a private sector body to share threat information with the government "while also protecting privacy and civil liberties," the bill sponsors say.
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American corporation getting their info of world affairs from Friedman ? ? .. this guy parroting Zionist propaganda, brainwashing rubbish

reminds me of that clown (Giuliani) consulting American corporation on terrorism (and making million of that rubbish)

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[Atmosphere]

Here is someone from Anonymous claiming that the hack was "not the work of Anonymous."

Stratfor has been purposefully misrepresented by these so-called Anons and portrayed in false light as a company which engages in activity similar to HBGary. Sabu and his crew are nothing more than opportunistic attention whores who are possibly agent provocateurs. As a media source, Stratfor's work is protected by the freedom of press, a principle which Anonymous values greatly.

This hack is most definitely not the work of Anonymous.

Could be false flag. But it's almost impossible to be sure, since Anonymous is any kid who wants to say they're Anonymous.

[Enki]

https://rt.com/usa/news/anonymous-strat ... brown-941/

Anonymous (Probably actually Antisec not Anon) plans to publish Stratfor correspondence.

[AzariLoveIran]

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https://rt.com/usa/news/anonymous-strat ... brown-941/

Anonymous (Probably actually Antisec not Anon) plans to publish Stratfor correspondence.

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Loooooooooove it .. all crooks

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. . top secret correspondence between security firm Stratfor and millions of contacts is about to be published, a move that hackers say will serve as a smoking gun for several committed crimes.

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look , guys

these fascist faction, calling themselves neocons and conservative, they cheating Joe since long long time

a pure bullshit Saudi/America or Saudi/British arms deals a commission paid to Khashugi .. he a 2bit lavender .. those are slush funds to be paid to German, British, Canadian, Italian (self named) conservatives to genuflect Joe

No No when liberal faction get nickle and dime campaign money .. but Schreiber pays slush money to German and Canadian conservative politicians .. and when talkin, he jailed to silence him

let's read those secret Stratfor correspondence, am sure lots of illegal stuff

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[Azrael]

There's a reason China didn't do it first. It isn't worth doing

You may be right. Then again, maybe they did do it first and kept quiet about it.

[Azrael]

Here is someone from Anonymous claiming that the hack was "not the work of Anonymous."

Stratfor has been purposefully misrepresented by these so-called Anons and portrayed in false light as a company which engages in activity similar to HBGary. Sabu and his crew are nothing more than opportunistic attention whores who are possibly agent provocateurs. As a media source, Stratfor's work is protected by the freedom of press, a principle which Anonymous values greatly.

This hack is most definitely not the work of Anonymous.

Could be false flag. But it's almost impossible to be sure, since Anonymous is any kid who wants to say they're Anonymous.

I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if it were a false flag.

This sort of thing could play into the hands of creeps like Dan Lundgren, Peter King and the HBGary gang.

[Enki]

I need to put up the proper pastebin. They leaked user passwords and credit card numbers of end users not just corp clients.

[YMix]

Motherload of Stratfor emails displays Goldman Sacks/Stratfor monetized insider intelligence

WikiLeaks announced today it would start publishing the anticipated Stratfor emails. Anonymous previously released some of the emails regarding the Occupy movement, but now the motherload of more than 5 million emails from the security think tank will be visible for all to see.

The release is to include proof of the privatization of Stratfor in order to gain wealth for individuals. While wanting the public to believe the think tank is financially independent, Stratfor officials express otherwise in the emails.

The emails date from between July 2004 and late December 2011, revealing “the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal’s Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defense Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor’s web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques and psychological methods, for example:

“[Y]ou have to take control of him. Control means financial, sexual or psychological control… This is intended to start our conversation on your next phase” – CEO George Friedman to Stratfor analyst Reva Bhalla on 6 December 2011, on how to exploit an Israeli intelligence informant providing information on the medical condition of the President of Venezuala, Hugo Chavez.

“The emails show Stratfor’s web of informers, pay-off structure, payment-laundering techniques, and psychological methods,” the organization said in a statement on their site.

Stratfor realized that its use of secret cash bribes to obtain information from insiders is too risky. In August 2011, “Stratfor CEO George Friedman confidentially told his employees : “We are retaining a law firm to create a policy for Stratfor on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. I don’t plan to do the perp walk and I don’t want anyone here doing it either.”

Emails exchanged regarding WikiLeaks/Julian Assange:

The material contains privileged information about the US government’s attacks against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks and Stratfor’s own attempts to subvert WikiLeaks. There are more than 4,000 emails mentioning WikiLeaks or Julian Assange. The emails also expose the revolving door that operates in private intelligence companies in the United States. Government and diplomatic sources from around the world give Stratfor advance knowledge of global politics and events in exchange for money. The Global Intelligence Files exposes how Stratfor has recruited a global network of informants who are paid via Swiss banks accounts and pre-paid credit cards. Stratfor has a mix of covert and overt informants, which includes government employees, embassy staff and journalists around the world.

Strafor has previously claimed that nothing of significane could be obtained from the email exchanges, but WikiLeaks states:

The material shows how a private intelligence agency works, and how they target individuals for their corporate and government clients. For example, Stratfor monitored and analysed the online activities of Bhopal activists, including the “Yes Men”, for the US chemical giant Dow Chemical. The activists seek redress for the 1984 Dow Chemical/Union Carbide gas disaster in Bhopal, India. The disaster led to thousands of deaths, injuries in more than half a million people, and lasting environmental damage.

And the greed:

Stratfor’s use of insiders for intelligence soon turned into a money-making scheme of questionable legality. The emails show that in 2009 then-Goldman Sachs Managing Director Shea Morenz and Stratfor CEO George Friedman hatched an idea to “utilise the intelligence” it was pulling in from its insider network to start up a captive strategic investment fund. CEO George Friedman explained in a confidential August 2011 document, marked DO NOT SHARE OR DISCUSS : “What StratCap will do is use our Stratfor’s intelligence and analysis to trade in a range of geopolitical instruments, particularly government bonds, currencies and the like”. The emails show that in 2011 Goldman Sach’s Morenz invested “substantially” more than $4million and joined Stratfor’s board of directors. Throughout 2011, a complex offshore share structure extending as far as South Africa was erected, designed to make StratCap appear to be legally independent. But, confidentially, Friedman told StratFor staff : “Do not think of StratCap as an outside organisation. It will be integral… It will be useful to you if, for the sake of convenience, you think of it as another aspect of Stratfor and Shea as another executive in Stratfor… we are already working on mock portfolios and trades”. StratCap is due to launch in 2012.

What amuses me is that such articles are pieces of a puzzle that shows plainly how all that talk about being honest and working hard is complete and utter crap. Stealing "creatively" is far better.

EDIT:

The Stratfor emails reveal a company that cultivates close ties with US government agencies and employs former US government staff. It is preparing the 3-year Forecast for the Commandant of the US Marine Corps, and it trains US marines and "other government intelligence agencies" in "becoming government Stratfors". Stratfor’s Vice-President for Intelligence, Fred Burton, was formerly a special agent with the US State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service and was their Deputy Chief of the counterterrorism division. Despite the governmental ties, Stratfor and similar companies operate in complete secrecy with no political oversight or accountability. Stratfor claims that it operates "without ideology, agenda or national bias", yet the emails reveal private intelligence staff who align themselves closely with US government policies and channel tips to the Mossad – including through an information mule in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Yossi Melman, who conspired with Guardian journalist David Leigh to secretly, and in violation of WikiLeaks’ contract with the Guardian, move WikiLeaks US diplomatic cables to Israel.

Ironically, considering the present circumstances, Stratfor was trying to get into what it called the leak-focused "gravy train" that sprung up after WikiLeaks’ Afghanistan disclosures :

"[Is it] possible for us to get some of that ’leak-focused’ gravy train ? This is an obvious fear sale, so that’s a good thing. And we have something to offer that the IT security companies don’t, mainly our focus on counter-intelligence and surveillance that Fred and Stick know better than anyone on the planet... Could we develop some ideas and procedures on the idea of ´leak-focused’ network security that focuses on preventing one’s own employees from leaking sensitive information... In fact, I’m not so sure this is an IT problem that requires an IT solution."

Like WikiLeaks’ diplomatic cables, much of the significance of the emails will be revealed over the coming weeks, as our coalition and the public search through them and discover connections. Readers will find that whereas large numbers of Stratfor’s subscribers and clients work in the US military and intelligence agencies, Stratfor gave a complimentary membership to the controversial Pakistan general Hamid Gul, former head of Pakistan’s ISI intelligence service, who, according to US diplomatic cables, planned an IED attack on international forces in Afghanistan in 2006. Readers will discover Stratfor’s internal email classification system that codes correspondence according to categories such as ’alpha’, ’tactical’ and ’secure’. The correspondence also contains code names for people of particular interest such as ’Hizzies’ (members of Hezbollah), or ’Adogg’ (Mahmoud Ahmedinejad).

Stratfor did secret deals with dozens of media organisations and journalists – from Reuters to the Kiev Post. The list of Stratfor’s "Confederation Partners", whom Stratfor internally referred to as its "Confed genuflect House" are included in the release. While it is acceptable for journalists to swap information or be paid by other media organisations, because Stratfor is a private intelligence organisation that services governments and private clients these relationships are corrupt or corrupting.

WikiLeaks has also obtained Stratfor’s list of informants and, in many cases, records of its payoffs, including $1,200 a month paid to the informant "Geronimo" , handled by Stratfor’s Former State Department agent Fred Burton.

WikiLeaks has built an investigative partnership with more than 25 media organisations and activists to inform the public about this huge body of documents. The organisations were provided access to a sophisticated investigative database developed by WikiLeaks and together with WikiLeaks are conducting journalistic evaluations of these emails. Important revelations discovered using this system will appear in the media in the coming weeks, together with the gradual release of the source documents.

[YMix]

http://twitpic.com/8pavv1/full

[YMix]

http://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/33939 ... y-pls.html

From: Fred Burton [mailto:burton@stratfor.com]
Sent: Friday, November 07, 2008 7:41 AM
To: secure@stratfor.com
Subject: Insight - The Dems & Dirty Tricks ** Internal Use Only - Pls Do
Not Forward **
** Internal Use Only - Pls Do Not Forward **

1) The black Dems were caught stuffing the ballot boxes in Philly and Ohio
as reported the night of the election and Sen. McCain chose not to
fight. The matter is not dead inside the party. It now becomes a matter
of sequence now as to how and when to "out".

2) It appears the Dems "made a donation" to Rev. Jesse (no, they would
never do that!) to keep his yap shut after his diatribe about the Jews and
Israel. A little bird told me it was a "nice six-figure donation". This
also becomes a matter of how and when to out.

3) The hunt is on for the sleezy Russian money into O-mans coffers. A
smoking gun has already been found. Will get more on this when the time
is right. My source was too giddy to continue. Can you say Clinton and
ChiCom funny money? This also becomes a matter of how and when to out.

Yeeee-ha! Expose that lavender, baby!

I think we will need a new thread.

[Endovelico]

YMix,

The truth is that a war must be fought against this damned oligarchy. Unfortunately they are far too powerful so that there is no way we can win. The only way would be for a significant country to turn socialist (but not of the soviet type), so that we would have a basis from where to fight. China is too alien, and Russia has been burned once. It would have to be a country like Brazil, but local conditions are not right. Southern Europe might do the trick, if its peoples could get together. Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus would be large enough and populated enough to start gathering the anti-oligarchy forces throughout the world, but even they couldn't do the job alone. But the choice is clear: either we fight them or we are enslaved by them.

[YMix]

I don't think that war is possible. The people like the bread, games and shiny new toys. Heck, I like some of them myself. And I doubt that socialism is the answer. It would be more appropriate to say that some people should turn un-capitalistic because the only genuine criticism and dissidence in capitalism is to refuse to speak its financial language. That means barter, taking control of currency and politics, living differently. Currency (and being able to turn everything into currency) is an accelerant for capitalism.

However, that also means depending on capitalist countries to provide the shiny toys, such as 3D printers. To get out of capitalism, one must choose a sort of poverty. There are drawbacks: no research, decentralization is bad for organized defense etc.

Do you know large groups of people who would agree to an economically poor, highly political, sort of spiritually fulfilling (not my field of expertise) life? I don't. Not when the chips are down, anyway. I know some people who think wistfully of a house in the country. I wouldn't start a rural community with them. I wouldn't want to lead a country of such people down the road to relative poverty. I'd be the first one against the wall.

[Enki]

I think the oligarchy is hanging on by a thread and wants people to think it is powerful, but actually it is a rickety house of cards ready to implode and feed upon itself.

I'll just say this, there are 1%ers out there who are chomping at the bit to find some way to devote their money to Occupy Wall Street projects and goals. They just want to identify the groups and causes that have the most game, so they aren't throwing their money into a pit of stupid.

I believe that me and mine are perfectly positioned to receive some of that money.

[YMix]

I think the oligarchy is hanging on by a thread and wants people to think it is powerful, but actually it is a rickety house of cards ready to implode and feed upon itself.

There's always a new oligarchy around the corner.

[Enki]

I don't think that war is possible. The people like the bread, games and shiny new toys. Heck, I like some of them myself. And I doubt that socialism is the answer. It would be more appropriate to say that some people should turn un-capitalistic because the only genuine criticism and dissidence in capitalism is to refuse to speak its financial language. That means barter, taking control of currency and politics, living differently. Currency (and being able to turn everything into currency) is an accelerant for capitalism.

However, that also means depending on capitalist countries to provide the shiny toys, such as 3D printers. To get out of capitalism, one must choose a sort of poverty. There are drawbacks: no research, decentralization is bad for organized defense etc.

Do you know large groups of people who would agree to an economically poor, highly political, sort of spiritually fulfilling (not my field of expertise) life? I don't. Not when the chips are down, anyway. I know some people who think wistfully of a house in the country. I wouldn't start a rural community with them. I wouldn't want to lead a country of such people down the road to relative poverty. I'd be the first one against the wall.

This is kind of BS. You could actually live a high-tech communistic lifestyle, have your own intelligence agency, train for self-defense and make lots of money as a collective.

[Endovelico]

If capitalism fails, as I think it will, the choices confronting us may be easier to make. If our relative prosperity goes down the drain, it will be easier to choose relative poverty with freedom, as the alternative would be poverty without freedom. That's why the present crisis in Europe may end up being a good thing.

[YMix]

This is kind of BS. You could actually live a high-tech communistic lifestyle, have your own intelligence agency, train for self-defense and make lots of money as a collective.

I'm not sure it would work. But maybe I'm being too strict.