HBGary Federal CEO Resigns Following Anonymous Hack

HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr announced that he is stepping down from his position to focus on rebuilding his reputation after Anonymous leaked thousands of his business emails.

Aaron Barr is the primary reason why the hacktivist group picked on the security firm and its sister company, HBGary, in the first place.

Barr, who specializes in intelligence gathering, used social media data mining techniques in order to research Anonymous and its leadership.

The group's members repeatedly stressed that Anonymous is not an organization, but an ever-changing leaderless movement.

But the HBGary Federal executive claimed there is a small group of high ranking members that actively coordinate things. Even more, he bragged in the media about finding out their real identities.

Anonymous responded in force by hacking the company's web server, defacing its website, and obtaining access to the business email accounts of Barr, HBGary Federal COO Ted Vera and HBGary CEO Greg Hoglund.

Around 80,000 emails were leaked by the group onto the Internet, exposing the company's questionable practices and dealings with the U.S. government and other contractors.

A detailed account of how the hacking went down was also published online, revealing serious security lapses on behalf of Barr and the company.

Industry experts have expressed doubts that federal agencies will trust HBGary Federal or its CEO again after the massive leak of information.

Nevertheless, Barr is willing to try. "I need to focus on taking care of my family and rebuilding my reputation. It’s been a challenge to do that and run a company," he told Threatpost.

"And, given that I’ve been the focus of much of bad press, I hope that, by leaving, HBGary and HBGary Federal can get away from some of that. I’m confident they’ll be able to weather this storm," he added.