Anonymous hackers accessed US government computer system, FBI warns

Activist hackers linked to the collective known as Anonymous have secretly accessed US government computers in multiple agencies and stolen sensitive information in a campaign that began almost a year ago, the FBI warned this week.

The hackers exploited a flaw in Adobe Systems Inc's software to launch a rash of electronic break-ins that began last December, then left "back doors" to return to many of the machines as recently as last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a memo seen by Reuters.

The hackers stole information from the US Army, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, and a number of other agencies, the FBI said in a memo seen by Reuters.

Just in the Department of Energy, personal information on at least 104,000 of its employees, contractors, family members and others along with information on nearly 20,000 bank accounts were hacked, according to an email from Kevin Knobloch, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz’ chief of staff.

The hackers gained access to US government computers using a flaw in Adobe Systems Inc’s software, the memo read.

They used the flaw to launch a spate of electronic break-ins which began last December and then left “back doors” to go back to many of the machines as recently as October.

The FBI believes the campaign began when Love and others used a security flaw in Adobe’s ColdFusion software, which is used to construct websites.

The Anonymous group is an amorphous collective that conducts multiple hacking campaigns at any time, some with a few participants and some with hundreds. In the past, its members have disrupted eBay's Inc PayPal after it stopped processing donations to the anti-secrecy site Wikileaks. Anonymous has also launched technically more sophisticated attacks against Sony Corp <6758 .t=""> and security firm HBGary Federal.

Some of the breaches and pilfered data in the latest campaign had previously been publicized by people who identify with Anonymous, as part of what the group dubbed "Operation Last Resort." Among other things, the campaigners said the operation was in retaliation for overzealous prosecution of hackers, including the lengthy penalties sought for Aaron Swartz, a well-known computer programmer and Internet activist who killed himself before a trial over charges that he illegally downloaded academic journal articles from a digital library known as JSTOR.

Despite the earlier disclosures, "the majority of the intrusions have not yet been made publicly known," the FBI wrote. "It is unknown exactly how many systems have been compromised, but it is a widespread problem that should be addressed."