The hackers stole data from the US Army, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services and many more other agencies.
Sensitive US government information has been stolen secretly by activist hackers linked to the collective known as Anonymous, according to the FBI.
The hackers stole information from the US Army, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, and a number of other agencies, the FBI said in a memo seen by Reuters.
Just in the Department of Energy, personal information on at least 104,000 of its employees, contractors, family members and others along with information on nearly 20,000 bank accounts were hacked, according to an email from Kevin Knobloch, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz�™ chief of staff.
The hackers gained access to US government computers using a flaw in Adobe Systems Inc�™s software, the memo read.
They used the flaw to launch a spate of electronic break-ins which began last December and then left �œback doors” to go back to many of the machines as recently as October.
The hacking was linked to the case of Lauri Love, a British resident indicted on October 28 for hacking into computers at the Department of Energy, Army, Department of Health and Human Services, the US Sentencing Commission, and elsewhere.
The attacks started when Love and others exploited the security flaw in Adobe�™s ColdFusion software, used to build websites.
The Anonymous group, an amorphous collective, carries out multiple hacking campaigns using either a few or hundreds of participants at any time.
Its members have also disrupted eBay’s Inc PayPal after it stopped giving donations to the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks.
In addition, it has launched more sophisticated attacks against Sony Corp and security firm HBGary Federal.
AT/ISH
Source: Press TV