14 DAY TRIAL // Booz Allen Hamilton, the US government contractor targeted by Anonymous, confirmed that data leaked by the hacktivist collective was stolen from its network, but claims the breach was limited to a learning management system.
On Monday, hackers associated with Anonymous' AntiSec operation published 90,000 email addresses and password hashes belonging to military personnel that were allegedly stolen from a Booz Allen Hamilton server.
"Booz Allen Hamilton has confirmed today that the posting of certain data files on the Internet yesterday was the result of an illegal attack," the company said in a statement posted on its website.
"We are conducting a full review of the nature and extent of the attack. At this time, we do not believe that the attack extended beyond data pertaining to a learning management system for a government agency," it noted.
The admittance comes as a surprise because it stands against the company's policy. Booz Allen previously said on Twitter that it doesn't comment such incidents.
It seems that the publicity surrounding this incident forced the company to change its mind. "It is important to set out our preliminary understanding of the facts. We are communicating with our clients and analyzing the nature of this attack and the data files affected," the consultancy firm added.
Even though Booz Allen claims that the breach is limited only to a learning management system, Anonymous claims to have also obtained 4 GB of source code and other login credentials that would allow it to target other government agencies.
A Malaysian web development company called Dazzlepod has taken the leaked email addresses and made them available in a searchable list. This can be used military personnel to easily determine if they were affected, but it can also serve as a tool for spearphishers who are looking to target a particular department.
Anonymous has promised even bigger leaks that will affect the US intelligence community in the days to come as part of its efforts to expose unethical behavior by the government and its contractors.