Coming off a big 2011, hackers are off to another strong start so far this year. Last year, either political hackers or cybercriminals went after entertainment companies (Sony), encryption designers and even the Central Intelligence Agency, to name just a few. In the first two months of 2012, hackers have stolen emails from global intelligence consulting firm Stratfor, taken down the websites of security company Combined Systems Inc., the CIA and the American Nazi Party, and infiltrated the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

 

Security News Daily has compiled the biggest hacks of the first two months of 2012. Among the winners are:

 

·       Anonymous partnering with WikiLeaks to publish 5 million Stratfor emails that included discussion of cash bribes and joining with Goldman Sachs to profit from insider information by creating an investment fund;

·       Anonymous calling attention to the bloody crackdown in Bahrain by taking down the site of Combined Systems which sells tear gas and other crowd-control devices;

·       A 17-year-old exposing the personal details of 350,000 registered users of the porn site Brazzers.com;

·       Anonymous exposing emails from the office of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad

·       The release of a 17-minute clip of a January 17 conference call between FBI and Scotland Yard investigators discussing evidence against Anonymous members, as well as plans for arrests.

-David Wallechinsky, Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Cybercrime Blotter: The Biggest Hacks of 2012 — So Far (by Matt Liebowitz, Security News Daily)