Anonymous: US security firms 'planned to attack WikiLeaks'
Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 07:21AM The hacker collective Anonymous claims to have unearthed proposals by a consortium of US security firms to attack WikiLeaks, ahead of reportedly planned disclosures about the Bank of America.
Leaked emails apparently suggest that three private security firms – HBGary Federal, Palantir Technologies and Berico Technologies – pitched a plan to undermine the whistleblowers' site to a law firm which has represented the Bank of America. BoA, the largest US bank, is thought to be the next target of WikiLeaks releases.
Anonymous began releasing tens of thousands of emails sent by HBGary Federal late last week, after the loose-knit "hacktivist" group attacked the security firm's computer systems.
Aaron Barr, the company's chief executive, was targeted by Anonymous following a newspaper interview in which he claimed to be able to expose senior members of the shadowy internet collective.
One PowerPoint presentation found by Anoymous, and seen by the Guardian, apparently details a strategy to undermine WikiLeaks and its supporters by submitting falsified documents to the site and then exposing them as forgeries once they are published.
Another document sent by HBGary Federal to Hunton & Williams, the law firm which has represented the Bank of America, suggests ways to "mitigate [the] effect of adversarial groups" on the US Chamber of Commerce for a fee of $2m (£1.2m).
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