Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and Anonymous partner and release Stratfor emails

WikiLeaks has apparently partnered with Anonymous and released 5 million emails from the Austin-based intelligence firm Stratfor.

The emails are dated from 2004 to December 2011. The release marks a partnership of sorts between Julian Assange and his whistleblower website WikiLeaks and the worldwide group of computer hackers called Anonymous.

Hackers from Anonymous collapsed Stratfor’s website on Christmas Eve and stole all their client’s names, email addresses, private emails and credit card numbers. The list included high ranking business leaders and politicians.

The emails dumped by WikiLeaks are what Anonymous stole in their Christmas attack on Stratfor.

The attack devastated and humiliated Stratfor. Their website was down for over a month, their servers were destroyed and their reputation was severely damaged. The treasure trove of confidential emails released is not likely to help matters.

Here is the statement from WikLeaks website:

On Monday February 27th, 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files, over five million e-mails from the Texas headquartered “global intelligence” company Stratfor. The e-mails date between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal’s Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defence Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor’s web of informers, pay-off structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods.

 

 Here is an excerpt from a Stratfor press release on the matter. You can read the entire release on their Facebook page.

In December, thieves compromised Stratfor’s data systems and stole a large number of company emails, along with other private information of Stratfor readers, subscribers and employees. Those stolen emails apparently will be published by Wikileaks. This is a deplorable, unfortunate — and illegal — breach of privacy.

Some of the emails may be forged or altered to include inaccuracies; some may be authentic. We will not validate either. Nor will we explain the thinking that went into them. Having had our property stolen, we will not be victimized twice by submitting to questioning about them.

,p>We want to assure everyone that Stratfor is committed to recovering from the hack and rebuilding trust with the public, and will continue to do what we do best: produce and publish industry-leading analysis of international affairs.