It turns out that some of the information is not recent, but there might still be victims

Nov 9, 2011 14:51 GMT  ·  By

Yesterday we've seen more that 150 email account credentials being leaked by a member of Team Poison hacker collective. Meanwhile the hacker who claimed the attack gave some explanations on his reasons and the origins of the data.

According to SC Magazine, Hex00010, the hacker that claimed the attack, revealed that he targeted government accounts as a form of protest.

"In today's society, international governments are corrupted. I have targeted Aussies' servers due to the fact that statistically ... from a cyber attacks perspective Australia is not hit that much compared to other national governments," the cybercriminal said.

The list which includes Australian organizations such as AusTrac, IP Australia, the Bureau of Meterology, NSW Police and local councils was obtained after the hackers attacked a third world location.

"We have attacked a third world country listing hundreds of government officials."

The document also includes nine accounts belonging to Britain's Ministry of Defence, details of Fiji ministers and Australian senators.

However, the same source reveals that they obtained information from AusTrac which claims that many of the details are outdated and incorrect.

One of the leaked accounts belonged to a staff member that left the agency back in 2009 and his credentials listed in the document are incorrect anyway.

Whichever the reality might be in this case, it's clear that we're facing another situation when high-profile citizens are exposed. Unlike the cases where a data breach can lead to identity theft, when state official emails are involved, government secrets can be leaked.

One by one, every country in the world seems to be targeted by cybercriminals who go after the governments they consider to be malicious. Not long ago, in the US, Anonymous leaked tons of information on bankers and public figures and now the rest of the world seems to be following.