More hacked Stratfor info released

Hackers representing themselves as members of the activist group Anonymous said Friday they have dumped onto the web a wealth of personal information about the nearly 1 million people who have registered on the website of Stratfor, a global intelligence company.

“We call upon all allied battleships, all armies from darkness, to use and abuse these password lists and credit card information to wreak unholy havok (sic) upon the systems and personal e-mail accounts of these rich and powerful oppressors. Kill, kitties, kill and burn them down… peacefully. XD XD,” said a statement posted on the information-sharing website Pastebin.com from AntiSec, a Web-based collaboration with the activist hacking groups Anonymous and LulzSec.

It said it was revealing 75,000 names and e-mail addresses, credit cards and passwords for Stratfor customers as well as 860,000 user names, e-mail addresses and passwords for those who have just registered.

The missive added that Anonymous would launch attacks on law enforcement targets nationwide on New Year’s Eve.

Dazzlepod has created a site where Stratfor customers can check if their email address has been compromised, the Malaysia-based web development agency said.

In a posting on its Facebook page, Stratfor said it “regrets the latest disclosure of information obtained illegally from the company’s data systems. We want to assure our customers and friends this was not a new cyber attack but was instead a release of information obtained during the previous security breach. The latest disclosure included credit card information of paid subscribers and many email addresses of those who receive Stratfor’s free services.”

The “previous security breach” cited referred to a posting earlier this week on Pastebin that said that Stratfor subscriber data, including information on 4,000 credit cards and the company’s “private client” list, had been released.

In a posting on its website, the Austin, Texas-based company said, “We are currently investigating this unfortunate event and are working diligently to prevent it from ever happening again. As a result, we have delayed restoring our website until we can perform a thorough security review. Stay tuned for our relaunch.

“In the meantime, our main concern is the impact on our customers. As a result, we have provided paid subscribers with identity protection coverage from CSID, a leading provider of global identity protection, at our expense for 12 months.”

Stratfor provides independent analysis of international affairs and security threats and describes itself as a publisher of geopolitical analysis.

Anonymous distanced itself from the initial hack, according to a news release posted on Pastebin.

“Hackers claiming to be Anonymous have distorted this truth in order to further their hidden agenda, and some Anons have taken the bait,” it said.