Sophos Cloud Optix
A recording of a confidential conference call between the FBI and UK law enforcement officers at the Metropolitan Police has been released by Anonymous on the internet.
The inference has to be that hackers were able to secretly access the call because they have compromised a police investigator’s email account.
The 16 minute conversation, which has been posted to a number of sites including YouTube, discusses ongoing investigations into hackers associated with Anonymous, AntiSec and LulzSec.
It appears that the spied-upon conference call took place on January 17th, as a confidential email giving the call-in details and passcode has also been published on the net.
The email, entitled “Anon-Lulz International Coordination Call”, was sent to over 40 law enforcement officers in the USA, UK, Ireland, Netherlands, France and Sweden, although only a small number of people are on the conference call.
The assumption has to be that an Anonymous hacker had access to one of the recipients’ email accounts, and thus had secret access to the confidential call.
Whoever has uploaded the recording of the conference call has bleeped out names of some alleged hackers who have not yet been apprehended (leaving just their nicknames audible) but others are named in the call.
For instance, Jake Davis (suspected by the authorities of being “Topiary”, the public face of the Anonymous and LulzSec hacktivist groups) and Ryan Cleary (who is alleged to have launched a DDoS attack on the Serious Organised Crime Agency’s website), are clearly named and their cases discussed.
No doubt the police authorities will be appalled to realise that the very people that they are trying to apprehend, could have been tuning in to their internal conversations.
And don’t make the mistake of thinking that a leak like this is in some way amusing. Can you put your hand on your heart and honestly say that your company takes greater care regarding the security of its conference calls? Can you be confident that someone unknown isn’t listening in to your private conversations?
UPDATE
The FBI and Scotland Yard have now confirmed that their internal conference call describing their investigation into Anonymous hackers was illegally intercepted, as was the email containing the conference call details.
Meanwhile, Anonymous hasn’t been able to resist taunting the FBI about the infiltration:
The #FBI might be curious how we're able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now. #OpInfiltration
Image credit: Headset man from Shutterstock.
Powned!!!
The FBI is to Anonymous what the U.S. military is to Al Queda/the Taliban: A joke.
I don't know about the FBI, but I love it when someone is snooping on me. I grew up in a household where that was common, and the best part about it is that you can insult people without them being able to respond, and you can invent things for them to waste their time on. If it is not, then it certainly should be SOP for the feds to anticipate that they are being hacked, especially when dealing with a group just as sophisticated as, apparently, or even more so than, a foreign intelligence agency. I go on the assumption that they (and other governmental agencies) have all kinds of falsified data mixed in with their "real" data in all their sensitive files. Let me give you an example: I would be talking about some subject, say, the object of another investigation, or someone the agency is targeting for some other reason, as though that person were one of the agency's lead investigators or an undercover agent. That way, you could lead the hackers to "expose" people you are trying to get rid of as your own agents, and thereby make them vulnerable to their own people. So I wouldn't just automatically assume that the feds are complete idiots in such matters.
It's amazing how many people don't get this with all of the spy movies that have been around for the last several decades. How many sisters wrote awful stuff about their little brother in their diaries knowing the little dweeb knew how to unlock it?
Hey, big sisters and FBI agents have to have *some* fun. 🙂
So why would Anonymous post this stuff, knowing that doing so would surely cut off their access?
Possible answer: Because their access had already been detected and cut off.
or they have multiple avenues of access
I am proud of Anonymous, FBI is more evil than good. But it fluctuates from time to time.
Seems to me there are a lot of more important items that the FBI could focus on (e.g. prosecuting wall street, investigating political terrorism -such as recently befell a campaign manager in Arkansas, investigating anti-american terrorism threats). Yet the FBI continues to pursue hacktivists, copyright infringement and drugs – items that, for good or bad, are essentially culturally accepted.
The executive branch has been found guilty of some unauthorized eavesdropping itself (and congress quickly passed legislation to shield them). The FBI are not saints.
None of this is particularly good, but it is very bad to become distracted from critical issues that threaten the very existence of our society. If citizens cannot run for office or support candidates without incurring violent retribution then our very democratic systems are in jeopardy. The FBI has got its priorities wrong.
While I'm kind on the fence about this, I warned it would happen for the past six months. If our governments are intent on undermining our privacy and security, the same eventually will happen to their agencies. If they resort to using Trojans and backdoors, it's just a matter of time before hackers find them.
If the FBI and the Met want to gett involved in the 'black hat' stuff, they'll have to bend over and take their own medicine later. That's just how it is.
Anonymous is a reaction to the massive deception and corruption.
In your AP interview about the Anon-FBI recording released, you said “Even my ironing lady could have rung in and silently listened to the call just like Anonymous did,” Are you stating that your “Ironing Lady” is somehow retarded, or perhaps your suit is being pressed by an Anon. What an elitist snob. Perhaps she’ll be tracked down and asked….
Better change laundry’s.
I was trying to suggest you didnt have to be a “leet” hacker to listen in to the call.
Anna, my ironing lady, is a wonderful, smart, well-read, charming woman… But she did need my help setting up her home wifi network.
Believe nobody.
PANOPTISM means
the power controls YOU by a global panopticon
(see J.Bentham acc.to M.Foucault)
in our new century we have to create
INVERSE PANOPTISM
-YOU can control the power
I can't tell whether to disregard anonymous as 4chan rejects, of if to be really, really concerned.
Maybe the proper approach, is a little bit of both.
“INVERSE PANOPTISM
-YOU can control the power”
The inverse of a Panopticon (one watch all) is the Amphitheatre (all watch one), or the Anatomical Theatre (designed do give everyone a good view).
I like it. All organisations (governments, businesses, non-commercials), should be mandated to archive all their documents at wikileaks.
I look forward to every new adventure that they post. Watch the news and don't see too much. In these days of oppression, big money forcing legislation that kills our rights and freedoms and willing politicians helping them screw us all over, it is about time the people started to wake the hell up.
These narcissistic megalomaniacs are the cause of most of the worlds problems. They fight over resources that make them more money and we do the dying.
All I can say is BRAVO. As there is one thing these wealthy elite have forgotten… They may have the money (for now) but we build the cars, we write the programs, we fight the battles and we have had enough.
If you can't be free in a fair and just society that is geared to need rather than greed, then its time for drastic change… Maybe now is the time…
Enough is enough…