Hackers intercept call between Scotland Yard and FBI

A CONFERENCE call between Scotland Yard and the FBI was intercepted and published online by hackers, the group Anonymous has claimed.

Police and the FBI discussed details of investigations into ongoing cases against Anonymous and other hacking groups, dates of planned arrests, and potential evidence during the recording of the 17-minute conversation, which was posted on YouTube.

The group of hackers who call themselves Anonymous also published an e-mail, purporting to be from the FBI, giving details of the access code for the call and the e-mail addresses of those invited to take part.

On its Twitter account, Anonymous said: “The FBI might be curious how we’re able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now.”

The FBI said the information “was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained”.

According to the leaked e-mail, which appears to have been written by the FBI’s Timothy Lauster Jr, the call took place on 17 January.

During the call, the officers and agents discussed the names of people they were tracking, plans for legal action and requests for more time.

The Scotland Yard officers also joked about a conference on cyber-crime in Sheffield, telling the FBI that they had not missed much by not having visited the city before, adding it was “not exactly a jewel in England’s crown”.

One agent thanked UK police for their support and for trying to give the FBI more time, saying: “I just want to express our gratitude for being flexible on this. I know New York [FBI office] appreciates it, and the FBI as a whole.”

One of the UK officers replied: “We’re here to help. We’ve cocked things up in the past, we know that. It’s not that much of a hardship.”

An FBI agent invited his UK counterparts to discuss “ongoing investigations related to Anonymous and associated groups”.

Those on the call talked about what legal strategy to pursue in the cases of Ryan Cleary and Jake Davis – two British suspects linked to Anonymous – and discussed details of the evidence gathered against other suspects.

Karen Todner, a lawyer for Mr Cleary, said that the recording could be “incredibly sensitive” and warned data breaches had the potential to derail the police’s work.

“If they haven’t secured their e-mail it could potentially prejudice the investigation,” she said.

A spokesman for the FBI said: “A criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible.”

It is unclear how the hackers got the recording, which appears to have been edited to bleep out the names of some of the suspects being discussed.

Anonymous is a loosely organised group of hackers which has claimed responsibility for attacks against corporate and government websites.

The group also claimed to have disrupted the websites of Visa and MasterCard in December 2010 when the companies stopped processing donations to WikiLeaks