[ISN] Secret-Spilling Sources at Risk Following Cryptome Breach

From: InfoSec News <alerts_at_private>
Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2010 00:52:30 -0500 (CDT)
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/10/cryptome-hacked/

By Kim Zetter
Threat Level
Wired.com
October 5, 2010

Secret-spilling site Cryptome was hacked over the weekend, possibly 
exposing the identities of whistleblowers and other confidential 
sources, according to a hacker who contacted Wired.com and claimed 
responsibility for the breach.

The hacker said two intruders from the group Kryogeniks breached the 
long-running site, where they gained access to a repository of secret 
files and correspondence. Among them, the hacker claimed, were the 
records of self-proclaimed WikiLeaks insiders who have been the source 
of several unconfirmed tips supposedly detailing internal WikiLeaks 
matters.

Wired.com could not confirm the identity of the hacker, who asked to be 
identified as “Ruxpin” or “Xyrix.” To verify his claims, the hacker 
showed Wired.com screenshots of Cryptome founder John Young’s Earthlink 
account inbox and Cryptome’s directory. The latter showed two WikiLeaks 
file paths, a list of about 30 names and e-mail addresses of sources who 
communicated with Cryptome, and the contents of at least one e-mail 
between Young and a Wired.com contributor from 2008. The Wired.com 
contributor and Young have authenticated the e-mail.

The hacker said they broke into Cryptome using a stolen e-mail password 
for the Earthlink account belonging to Young. They then used the e-mail 
account to reset the password for his site’s hosting account. The hacker 
claims they copied 6.8 terabytes of data from Cryptome, though “no files 
were deleted or altered.”

[...]


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Received on Tue Oct 05 2010 - 22:52:30 PDT

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