[ISN] HBGary Execs Run For Cover As Hacking Scandal Escalates

http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2011/02/15/hbgary-execs-run-for-cover-as-hacking-scandal-escalates/

By Andy Greenberg
The Firewall
Forbes.com
Feb. 15, 2011 

Rarely in the history of the cybersecurity industry has a company become 
so toxic so quickly as HBGary Federal. Over the last week, many of the 
firm’s closest partners and largest clients have cut ties with the 
Sacramento startup. And now it’s cancelled all public appearances by its 
executives at the industry’s biggest conference in the hopes of ducking 
a scandal that seems to grow daily as more of its questionable practices 
come to light.

Last week, the hacker group Anonymous released more than 40,000 of 
HBGary Federal’s emails, followed by another 27,000 from its sister 
company, HBGary, over the weekend. Those files, stolen in retaliation 
for an attempt by HBGary Federal CEO Aaron Barr to penetrate Anonymous 
and identify its members, revealed a long list of borderline illegal 
tactics. Ars Technica has posted a well-constructed narrative of the 
firm’s bad behavior. The short version: It proposed services to clients 
like a law firm working with Bank of America and the U.S. Chamber of 
Commerce that included cyberattacks and misinformation campaigns, 
phishing emails and fake social networking profiles, pressuring 
journalists and intimidating the financial donors to clients’ enemies 
including WikiLeaks, unions and non-profits that opposed the Chamber.

HBGary responded Monday with a statement on its website that it’s 
“continuing to work intensely with law enforcement on this matter and 
hopes to bring those responsible to justice.” In the mean time, the firm 
is canceling all its executives’ talks at the RSA conference, the 
largest cybersecurity industry confab of the year, taking place this 
week in San Francisco. HBGary chief executive Greg Hoglund had planned 
to give two presentations at the conference. HBGary Federal CEO Barr 
last week canceled his talk at the simultaneous B-Sides conference, 
which would have focused on his expose on Anonymous. The company said in 
its statement that it had been subject to numerous threats of violence, 
including some received at its RSA marketing booth.

[...]


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