The US Secret Service and the FBI are investigating a hacker’s claim to have accessed the personal emails of the CIA’s Director and the Secretary of the DHS.
A hacker, who has described himself as a “stoner high school student”, claimed to have access to the social security numbers of staff in the organisations, tweeted on Monday afternoon that he would be releasing ‘names, phone numbers and social security numbers’, while teasing observers with a redacted spreadsheet containing personal data.
The information on the spreadsheet is said to be out of date, as some of the companies named in the list have since changed name or been dissolved. However the personal data of individuals may still be accurate.
The method employed by the hacker was using social engineering to access an AoL account – duping Verizon employees into revealing sensitive information and making the account accessible to the hacker by having the account reset and new details sent to a separate address.
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SOURCE: Robert Hacket writing for Fortune
