Reuters. According to the FBI, activist hackers from Anonymous have access to US government systems at numerous organizations and have stolen sensitive information in an operation that began nearly a year ago.
Hackers exploiting a flaw in Adobe Systems Inc have carried out a series of cyberattacks that began in December, then installed “backdoors” to access compromised systems, the FBI said in a news release seen by Reuters.
The bulletin called the attacks “a widespread problem that needs to be addressed.” It said the breaches have affected the U.S. military, the Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human Services, and possibly many more agencies.
Investigators are still gathering information about the scope of Anonymous’ operation. The FBI document outlines what system administrators should look for to determine if their systems have been compromised.
According to an internal email from Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to the director of personnel, Kevin Knobloch, the stolen data includes personal information for at least 104,000 employees, contractors, their family members and many others associated with the Department of Energy. The information includes nearly 20,000 bank accounts.
The email was dated Oct. 11.
FBI officials said the hacking is linked to the case of Lauri Love, a British resident who was indicted on Oct. 28 for hacking into computers at the Department of Energy, the Army, the Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Sentencing Commission and elsewhere.
Investigators believe the attacks began when Lauri Love and others exploited a security flaw in Adobe ColdFusion, which is used to create web pages.
Adobe spokeswoman Heather Edell said she was not aware of the FBI's allegations . She added, however, to cover her own tracks, that the majority of attacks on its software have been carried out on programs that were not updated with the latest security patches. The strange thing about this story is that Anonymous is not the first to announce the hacking: "the majority of the intrusions have not yet been publicly disclosed," the FBI said. "It is unknown exactly how many systems have been compromised, but it is a widespread problem that needs to be addressed."
