In cyberspace they call it “getting pwned”. That’s what happened to the American tech-security company HBGary Federal when it tried to infiltrate the so-called hacktivist network known as Anonymous.

In an interview over the weekend Aaron Barr, chief executive of the Washington-based company, said his firm had successfully infiltrated the shadowy collective behind a series of recent pro-WikiLeaks cyber protests.

Anonymous’s revenge was swift and brutal. Using sophisticated hacking techniques, the group managed to deface HBGary’s website, break into its messaging system to dump 60,000 emails on to it and hijack Mr Barr’s Twitter account to tweet abuse and publish his supposed home address and social security number.

Read Full Article