Anonymous releases recording between FBI, UK law enforcement

The politically-motivated hacking group Anonymous released on Friday a 17-minute recording of a conference call between U.S. and British law enforcement agents coordinating an ongoing investigation into the group.

An FBI spokeswoman said the recording was legitimate, but said no FBI systems were breached by the hackers. The agency has an ongoing investigation into Anonymous, she said.

A spokesman for New Scotland Yard said he was also aware of the recording and that "the matter is being investigated by the FBI."

"At this stage no operational risks to the MPS [Metropolitan Police Service] have been identified; however we continue to carry out a full assessment," according to a statement. "We are not prepared to discuss further."

It appears the hackers obtained an email sent on Jan. 13 to law enforcement agents in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Sweden. The email, titled "Anon-Lulz International Coordination Call," contained the dial-in number and access code needed for a participant to join the conference, which took place on Jan. 17.

During the conference call, the agents discussed several of the alleged major players in Anonymous including Ryan Cleary and Jake Davis, both of whom were arrested last year in the U.K. They also discussed other suspects and mentioned their online nicknames.

Although the agents appeared to mention other suspects by name, the references on the recording have been blotted out by a loud beep.

Cleary was arrested last June for allegedly taking part in distributed denial-of-service attacks against the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). He has been charged with five computer-related offenses and stands accused of distributing tools to build a botnet used to attack SOCA as well as websites of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and the British Phonographic Industry.

Davis was arrested last July and is believe by police to be "Topiary," a spokesman who did interviews with media and ran a prolific Twitter account documenting frequent denial-of-service attacks and data theft escapades of Anonymous and LulzSec.

Send news tips and comments to jeremy_kirk@idg.com

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