Anonymous release top secret call between FBI & Scotland Yard

[richard]

A confidential call between the FBI & Scotland Yard was recorded by hacking group Anonymous - the very people they were trying to catch.

The group released a 15-minute tape of what appears to be a conference call last month about tracking and prosecuting the group’s members.

The top-secret conversation begins with a bizarre exchange between the U.S. and British agents, where they talk about cheese and eating 'McDonald's at the Pentagon'.

It is not known whether cheese and McDonald's are codenames or if the transcript simply reveals what is really at the top of the list of priorities of our law enforcement officers.

There is also one point when 'Bruce', the U.S. agent, says to the British agent 'Stuart': 'I'm not sure if we're the only two on right now or not'.

Anonymous also published a top secret email apparently sent by an FBI agent, which gave details and a password for accessing the call.

The cyber raid is the most audacious and sinister yet to be carried out by the shadowy hacking group and shows how powerful Anonymous has become.

And in a display of their growing reach, Anonymous also claimed credit for hacking the websites of the police forces in Boston, Massachusetts, and Salt Lake City, Utah.

This came hours after they attacked the Greek Ministry of Justice site. ‘The FBI might be curious how we're able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now,’ the group tweeted.

The recording, which has since been verified by the FBI, appears to have been edited to bleep out the names of some suspects being discussed.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said 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'

'We are aware of the video, which relates to an FBI conference call involving a PCeU (Police Central e-crime Unit) representative,' London's Metropolitan Police said on Friday.

'The matter is being investigated by the FBI. At this stage no operational risks to the MPS have been identified - however, we continue to carry out a full assessment.'

Amid the material published by Anonymous was a message purportedly sent by an FBI agent to international law enforcement agencies.

It invites his foreign counterparts to join the call to ‘discuss the on-going investigations related to Anonymous and other associated splinter groups’.

The email to officials in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden and France had a phone number and password for accessing the call.

But only American and British officials can be heard on the recording. Neither the FBI agent nor others coded in on the call have commented.

The conference call dial-in details were reportedly sent in an email to officials and someone forwarded it to a private, non-government email account which was compromised at some point.

'If they haven't secured their email it could potentially prejudice the investigation'

Karen Todner, lawyer for Ryan Cleary, linked with Anonymous

The email released by the hackers that appears to be the one the FBI sent out to organise the teleconference asked all participants to use a single code to gain entry to the call.

The call would have been more secure if attendees had each been assigned unique access codes and been required to identify themselves by name upon dialling in, law enforcement sources said.

If a hacker had dialled in with a unique access code and made it past initial screening, the organisers may have identified a breach when it became clear two parties were using the same dial-in.

Those on the call talk about what legal strategy to pursue in the cases of Ryan Cleary and Jake Davis - two British suspects linked to Anonymous.

They also discuss evidence against other suspects. Karen Todner, a lawyer for Cleary, said the recording could be ‘incredibly sensitive’.

She warned the breach could derail police work. ‘If they haven't secured their email it could potentially prejudice the investigation,’ she said.

Anonymous is an amorphous collection of online enthusiasts, pranksters and activists whose targets have included the Church of Scientology.

'The FBI might be curious how we're able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now'

They have also run attacks against the music industry, and financial companies such as Visa and MasterCard.

Following a spate of arrests globally, the group and its various offshoots have focused their attention on law enforcement, especially the FBI.

Data security expert Graham Cluley said hackers were able to eavesdrop on the call because they had compromised an investigator's emails.

‘The very people that (police) are trying to apprehend, could have been tuning in to their internal conversations,’ he wrote in a blog post.

Meanwhile, a message posted on the Boston police website on Friday said: 'Anonymous hacks Boston Police website in retaliation for police brutality at OWS (Occupy Wall Street)'.

ATTACK ON GREECE SITE

Anonymous today launched a cyber-attack on the Greek Ministry of Justice website, and warned of plans to target a further 300 ministry and media sites.

The hack was apparently a protest against the Greek government's signing of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which is designed to reduce internet piracy.

The group has unleashed havoc on several European governments during the past month.

Boston's Occupy movement set up camp in the city's financial district for two months last autumn, but police dismantled it in December, citing public health and safety concerns.

The hackers in Utah gained access to sensitive data, including citizen complaints about drug crimes, phone numbers, addresses and other personal information, police said.

‘We're still knee deep in trying to get a feel for the extent of the problem,’ Salt Lake City police Detective Dennis McGowan said on Friday afternoon.

'A law enforcement agency using unencrypted, unsecure communications is a major fumble,' said Marcus Carey, who spent years securing communications for the U.S. National Security Agency.

‘What if this event was talking about some terrorist plot to blow up something and “they” were listening in? It could've been much worse if it was related to an Al Qaeda plot or something.’


Source
By Mark Duell
www.dailymail.co.uk

[richard]

I have a huge amount of respect for Anonymous because they are releasing information into the public domain which should be public knowledge and not buried by governmental departments.

The fact that they are making the FBI and Scotland Yard look like a right bunch of amateur clowns speaks volumes and doesn't surprise me in the least.

Ask anyone here in the UK what they think about the performance of their local police force and you will find the results very disappointing.

So thank you Anonymous, you're kind of like Robin Hood and his merry men brought into the 21st century.