03-16 The Latest on Emails Between Ex-Bank of America Employee & Anonymous. An “open letter” from the ex-Bank of America employee was recently posted on the website Anonymous has been using to share the leaked emails.
It appears to be in response to how he was characterized in coverage of the leak. TechHerald.com has focused on this comment, which he wrote in response to a question from Anonymous on whether he had more emails: “I have to save the rest. I promised a WSJ [Wall Street Journal] reporter in Australia the story back in Jan when the Balboa sale was announced. I also need to keep a few aces for my inevitable years of litigation for what I’m doing.” Today, Anonymous published a letter from him. #BlackMonday Open Letter To All from Ex-BofA Employee. HB Gary Federal, Anonymous and Wikileaks. A conflict between everyone's favorite hacktivists and an obscure security research company has just gotten interesting.
HB Gary Federal is a cyber-security company run by Aaron Barr who has been researching individuals he believes are associated with Anonymous. Specifically he has been trying to link the handles of IRC participants to real people. When he decided to publicize his findings in the Financial Times last Saturday, it touched off a very interesting series of events which are still unfolding. The Wikileaks threat. Denies connection 2 proactive tactics. Bank of America has broken its silence about news reports and Internet discussions circulating all week connecting BofA to these presentation slides outlining "proactive tactics" to neutralize WikiLeaks and silence its leader, Julian Assange.
"We've never seen the presentation, never evaluated it, and have no interest in it," BofA spokesman Scott Silvestri told Technology Live late Thursday. Page 14 of The Wikileaks Threat slide deck Whether BofA's categorical denial holds up remains to be seen. The slides, along with a cache of related e-mails, surfaced on the Internet on Sunday. The documents have since been pored over by technologists, security experts and journalists -- as well as participants and followers of the hacking group Anonymous, best known for attacking businesses hostile to WikiLeaks. Ironically, the slides and e-mail would never have seen the light of day had comments from HBGary CEO Aaron Barr not appeared in a Feb. 4 Financial Times news story. BoA Plays Defense. The Disinformation Campaign BoA Considered. Wikileaks has posted the presentation three security companies–Palantir, HBGary Federal, and Berico Technologies–made to Bank of America, proposing to help it respond to Wikileaks.
In addition to the degree to which the proposal emphasizes the national security ties and military background of the employees of the company (particularly Berico), the presentation fleshes out what the companies proposed. Under potential proactive tactics, it lists: Feed the fuel between the feuding groups. Disinformation. Create messages around actions to sabotage or discredit the opposing organization.
Of particularly interest, they describe HBGary Federal’s abilities to conduct INFOOPS, including “influence operations” and “social media exploitation.” Possible Upcoming Leak. Today has seen increased anticipation of a forthcoming megaleak on an American bank.
John Carney, Senior Editor at CNBC, posted on the CNBC "Network Network" blog a report purporting to confirm that the target of the next leak will be, as widely speculated, Bank of America: "We're stepping up release" WikiLeaks will step up its publication schedule of secret documents, founder Julian Assange announced Tuesday, promising more revelations based on the group’s stash of confidential U.S. embassy cables and other leaks.
Assange, 39, spoke to reporters outside London’s high-security Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court, where he and his lawyers appeared for a hearing in his fight against extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted in a sex-crimes inquiry. WikiLeaks sparked an international uproar with the publication of hundreds of classified U.S. diplomatic cables late last year, revelations that caused weeks worth of embarrassing news stories for the U.S. and its allies.
But the flow of leaks, published in The New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Le Monde and El Pais, has slowed recently amid a barrage of online attacks, financial difficulties and the Swedish prosecution of Assange. “We are stepping up our publishing for matters related to Cablegate and other materials,” Assange said. BoA Sucks. Bank leak history. Speculation was renewed in early January as to the subject of Wikileaks anticipated release, related to a major American bank.
WL Central has gathered the history of this story over the last two years to provide context for the speculation. This feature will be updated as more becomes available. October 2009 In a ComputerWorld article from October 2009, Dan Nystedt reported on an interview with Julian Assange from the Hack In The Box conference in Malaysia. The relevant quote is the following: "At the moment, for example, we are sitting on 5GB from Bank of America, one of the executive's hard drives," he said. November 2010 In an Andy Greenberg interview with Julian Assange preparing for a cover story by Forbes, some information came out which indicated that a "megaleak" on "a major American bank" would be released "early in the new year.
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