Hackers strike government cybersecurity contractor
Hackers who say they are part of the AntiSec alliance have released data they claim comes from ManTech, a cybersecurity contractor that counts the FBI among its clients.
Hackers flying the AntiSec banner today released what they said was 400 megabytes of internal data from a government cybersecurity contractor, ManTech, as part of their campaign to embarrass the FBI every Friday, as well as target other government agencies and their partners.
"Today is Friday and we will be following the tradition of humiliating our friends from the FBI once again. This time we hit one of their biggest contractors for cyber security: Mantech International Corporation," the hackers said in a statement on PirateBay.
"What ManTech has to do with the FBI? Well, quite simple: In Summer 2010 the FBI had the glorious idea to outsource their Cybersecurity to ManTech. Value of the contract: 100 Million US-Dollar," the statement said. The batch of documents mostly involves NATO, another ManTech client, along with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. military branches, and the State and Justice departments, according to the hackers. There was a rumor on Twitter that one of the files in the data release contains a Trojan horse, but another Twitter post said that was a false positive.
ManTech representatives did not return a call seeking comment earlier in the day when the hackers had merely threatened to release ManTech data, and its Fairfax, Va., office was closed when the data was released in the afternoon.
The Anonymous hacker group, part of the AntiSec alliance with the LulzSec hackers, also boasted today about releasing DHS e-mails that they had obtained legally and which were later found to be obtained on the Web.
Recent arrests of purported Anonymous members last week in the U.S. and Europe have not put a halt to the hacking activities. A list of attacks over the past few months is here.