Hackers intercept FBI calls as U.K.

by ddenglk168 on 2012-02-04 17:28:29

, The Hot Sealing Film said that it called on the citizens to take a series of similar actions as part of law enforcement around the world. The group is a loose-knit association of hackers and activists without a formal structure or membership. A 16-minute call was posted on the Internet last Friday. The Anonymous hacker collective claimed responsibility for the matter, but the FBI did not name the group and stated that a criminal investigation was ongoing. British officials reported a breach of Steam, a US-based gaming website, and also provided information about a teenage suspect in the UK. In November, Steam informed its customers that its site had been defaced and accounts might have been compromised. An FBI agent on the conference call told his colleagues that the investigation was being handled by an agent in Baltimore.

The FBI in Washington said that criminals hacked into a web crime conference call between agents and overseas law enforcement officers. British officials on the call discussed their efforts to assist with the US investigation into hackers, some of whom were also facing charges in the UK as they described what they called impressive investigative work recovering data from the suspect's hard drive. "Information is for law enforcement use only and obtained illegally," the FBI said. "A criminal investigation is ongoing to identify and hold accountable those responsible."

Twitter feed allegedly from TehWongZ said he suspected his hard drive was in the hands of the FBI, but added, "However, I have never been arrested." Much of the call consisted of joking banter unrelated to work-related dialogue.

The parent company of Steam did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It appears that the discussion by British police did not take the suspect, who used the nickname TehWongZ, too seriously, referring to him as an "admirer" and "painful to deal with."

This breach of law enforcement highlights how difficult it is to stop cybercrime without borders, causing embarrassment. A Twitter account claiming to be associated with Anonymous suggested that hackers had been monitoring FBI communications for a while.

The call mainly included discussions between FBI agents in the US and their counterparts at Scotland Yard in the UK about developments in the investigation.

The US FBI said that the agency's secure email or other computer systems were not breached. Instead, it seems that overseas law enforcement officers invited to the FBI call forwarded information to their private email accounts, which was then hacked. A spokesperson for London's Metropolitan Police stated that the agency was aware of the intercepted calls, "No operational risk has been identified." The spokesperson said that the FBI was investigating the matter.