Hackers claim to access Nato files

A GROUP of computer hackers yesterday claimed to have breached Nato security and accessed restricted material.

The group, called Anonymous, said it would be "irresponsible" to publish most of the material it stole from Nato, but that it is sitting on about one gigabyte of data.

Anonymous posted a PDF file on its Twitter page showing what appeared to be a document headed "Nato Restricted" and dated 27 August, 2007.

"Hi Nato," the group teased on Twitter. "Yes, we haz more of your delicious data," hinting that more would be released in the next few days.

A Nato official said the organisation was aware that a hacker group had released what it claimed to be classified Nato documents on the Internet.

"Nato security experts are investigating these claims," the official said. "We strongly condemn any leak of classified documents, which can potentially endanger the security of Nato allies, armed forces and citizens."

Anonymous is a loosely organised group of hackers sympathetic to WikiLeaks. It has claimed responsibility for attacks against corporate and government websites worldwide, including disrupting the sites of Visa and MasterCard in December when the credit card companies stopped processing donations to WikiLeaks.