The FBI has confirmed that hackers have intercepted a sensitive conference call between FBI and Scotland Yard cybercrime investigators.
The loose-knit hacking collective known as Anonymous released a roughly 15-minute-long recording of what appears to be a conference call devoted to tracking and prosecuting members of the group.
The FBI said in a statement today that the information "was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained."
The bureau said it was hunting those responsible.
It's not clear how the hackers got their hands on the recording. It appears to have been edited to bleep out the names of some of the suspects being discussed.
Anonymous also published an email purportedly sent by an FBI agent which gave details and a password for accessing the call.
"The FBI might be curious how we're able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now," the group said in a message posted to Twitter.
Amid the material published by Anonymous was a message purportedly sent by an FBI agent to international law enforcement agencies. It invites his foreign counterparts to join the call to "discuss the on-going investigations related to Anonymous ... and other associated splinter groups." The email contained a phone number and password for accessing the call.
The email is addressed to officials in the Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden and France, but only American and British officials can be heard on the recording.
Emails to the FBI agent and others coded in on the call were not immediately returned, but the discussion itself appears sensitive. Those on the call talk about what legal strategy to pursue in the cases of two named suspects linked to Anonymous — and discuss details of the evidence gathered against other suspects.
A lawyer for one of the men, said that the recording could be "incredibly sensitive" and warned that such data breaches had the potential to derail the police's work.
"If they haven't secured their email it could potentially prejudice the investigation," she told The Associated Press.
Anonymous is an amorphous collection of internet enthusiasts, pranksters and activists whose targets have included the Church of Scientology, the music industry, and financial companies such as Visa and MasterCard.
Following a spate of arrests across the world, the group and its various offshoots have focused their attention on law enforcement in general and the FBI in particular.
AP