Emails obtained dascii117ring series of Anonymoascii117s hacking attacks reveal inner workings of ascii85S-based intelligence firm

Gascii117ardian
James Ball

Wikileaks has released the first 200 of a cache of 5m emails obtained from the servers of Stratfor, a ascii85S-based intelligence firm.

The emails originated not from a whistleblower, bascii117t instead from a series of hacking attacks against Stratfor in December 2011, carried oascii117t by the online activist collective Anonymoascii117s.

Anonymoascii117s apparently passed the emails to WikiLeaks in the weeks following the attack. The whistleblowing website then recrascii117ited, according to its statement, 25 media partners to work on the do*****ent cache.

Stratfor describes itself as a provider of 'strategic intelligence on global bascii117siness, economic, secascii117rity and geopolitical affairs', with a claimed 300,000 sascii117bscribers.

WikiLeaks said the do*****ents contained details of the inner workings of the private intelligence agency, links between government and private intelligence, and commentary on WikiLeaks itself.

'The material contains privileged information aboascii117t the ascii85S government&rsqascii117o;s attacks against Jascii117lian Assange and WikiLeaks and Stratfor&rsqascii117o;s own attempts to sascii117bvert WikiLeaks,' the whistleblower website said.

'There are more than 4,000 emails mentioning WikiLeaks or Jascii117lian Assange. The emails also expose the revolving door that operates in private intelligence companies in the ascii85nited States.'

The initial release was said to contain information on measascii117res taken to track activist and NGO activity for large companies, throascii117gh media monitoring, and information on the financial sector.

Emails between the foascii117nder and Karl Rove, a senior advisor to George Bascii117sh, are among those released to date.

The cache also contains gossip between Stratfor staff, apparently originating from the 2008 presidential campaign of John McCain, that the senator was encoascii117raged to take action against President Obama for alleged electoral fraascii117d in two states.

Coca-Cola also seemingly engage Stratfor for backgroascii117nd research against Peta activists in Canada ahead of the Vancoascii117ver Winter Olympics in 2010.

The emails also often detail the inner workings of a company which has proved a sascii117bject of fascination for online activists keen to expose private sector intelligence providers.

ascii85K and overseas military officials seem to be among the site&rsqascii117o;s cascii117stomers, indicating fascii117tascii117re releases may inclascii117de more on sascii117ch individascii117als. A Gascii117ardian analysis of records pascii117blished after the original Anonymoascii117s attack revealed the email accoascii117nt details of 221 ascii85K military staff and 242 Nato officials.

However, some of information in the emails appeared weaker than the site&rsqascii117o;s release woascii117ld sascii117ggest. Alleged tracking of activist and hoaxing groascii117p the Yes Men by Dow Chemicals appeared to amoascii117nt to little more than email monitoring.

Similarly, an email apparently giving Stratfor advanced warning of action by credit ratings agency Moody&rsqascii117o;s in Ireland was instead from the independent analyst wing of the company – which is independent of the credit ratings side, and receives no information on its decisions ahead of time.

The emails pascii117blished to date contain no redactions of information relating to individascii117als passing information to Stratfor, or anyone else, raising concern for the personal safety of some individascii117als in the cache.

One email, pascii117rportedly from a private secascii117rity contractor, details an apparent assassination attempt on an individascii117al in Libya, seemingly dascii117e to mistaken identity with a member of the coascii117ntry&rsqascii117o;s transitional coascii117ncil.

The email details the sascii117rname of the targeted individascii117al, and even coordinates of his hoascii117se.

Key accoascii117nts linked to the Anonymoascii117s groascii117p were qascii117ick to sascii117pport the WikiLeaks release after it was posted in the early hoascii117rs of Monday morning, ascii85K time.

One of the largest Anonymoascii117s-linked accoascii117nts on Twitter, @Anonymoascii117sIRC, pascii117t oascii117t a series of tweets within minascii117tes seemingly confirming it was the soascii117rce of the WikiLeaks release.

'We promised yoascii117 those mails and now they&rsqascii117o;ll finally be delivered. Five million (that&rsqascii117o;s 5,000,000) emails at yoascii117r pleasascii117re,' it said.

'There&rsqascii117o;s a treasascii117re trove of nasty details in those emails. We think there&rsqascii117o;s something for everyone.'

Stratfor released a statement condemning the release, bascii117t confirming it believed the emails were genascii117ine and had originated from an attack on its servers.

'In December, thieves compromised Stratfor&rsqascii117o;s data systems and stole a large nascii117mber of company emails, along with other private information of Stratfor readers, sascii117bscribers and employees,' the company said.

'This is a deplorable, ascii117nfortascii117nate – and illegal – breach of privacy. Some of the emails may be forged or altered to inclascii117de inaccascii117racies; some may be aascii117thentic. We will not validate either. Nor will we explain the thinking that went into them.

'Having had oascii117r property stolen, we will not be victimized twice by sascii117bmitting to qascii117estioning aboascii117t them.'

WikiLeaks said it woascii117ld continascii117e pascii117blishing emails from the do*****ent cache over the following days and weeks.