‘Anonymous’ Hacks Thousands Of Credit Card Numbers From Security Firm, Gives Money To Charity

Source: Dateline Zero

Merry Christmas: In what’s perhaps the latest incident of revenge against American companies alleged to have helped governments strike at Wikileaks, members of ‘Anonymous’ claimed Sunday to have stolen thousands of credit card numbers and other personal information belonging to clients of US-based security think tank Stratfor.

One hacker said the goal was to pilfer funds from individuals’ accounts to give away as Christmas donations; saying in the end, they managed to make “over a million dollars” in donations to a variety of charities. Some victims confirmed unauthorized transactions linked to their credit cards.

Anonymous also boasted of stealing Stratfor’s confidential client list, which includes entities ranging from Apple Inc. to the U.S. Air Force to the Miami Police Department, and mining it for more than 4,000 credit card numbers, passwords and home addresses.

Perhaps most embarrassing for the security company: The hackers claim they were able to obtain the information because the company did not encrypt it.

Stratfor downplayed the hacking incident, saying that what members of Anonymous stole was “merely a list of some of the members that have purchased our publications and does not comprise a list of individuals or entities that have a relationship with Stratfor.”

Full post at Dateline Zero