FBI: Irish Nisstep Led to Conference Call Leak

By Raphael Satter

London - An Irish police officer's email blunder led to the spectacular leak of a sensitive conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard, U.S. law enforcement said Tuesday.

An indictment unsealed in a New York court alleges that a teenager linked to the Lulz Security group of hackers was able to eavesdrop on the call after an unnamed officer with Ireland's national police force forwarded a work message to his insecure personal email account.

The email, which apparently originated from the FBI's Timothy Lauster, invited dozens of law enforcement officers from across Europe and the United States to coordinate their efforts against LulzSec and its amorphous umbrella group, Anonymous.

The FBI's indictment said that 19-year-old Donncha O'Cearrbhail intercepted the email and used the information in it to access and secretly record the Jan. 17 call, which hackers subsequently broadcast across the Internet.

The indictment said O'Cearrbhail was charged with one count of computer hacking conspiracy, and one count of intentionally disclosing an unlawfully intercepted wire communication.

O'Cearrbhail was one of five people charged in a multinational operation targeting hackers linked to Lulz Security. His indictment was unsealed on Tuesday as authorities revealed the group's ringleader had secretly become an FBI informant and turned against his comrades.

A spokesman for the Irish police, known as the Garda Siochana, refused to comment either on the details of the O'Cearrbhail charge or on the nature of the email blunder.

There appear to be only two Garda-linked names in Lauster's email: Paul Gillen and Colm Gallagher.

Neither officer returned messages seeking comment.

Anonymous Hacks FBI/Scotland Yard Calls

United States/Great Britain - Like a scene from a movie, the FBI and Scotland Yard were shown to be fools when it comes to hacking groups.

Anonymous, the infamous hacking group which has taken on credit card companies, cybersecurity firms, the Church of Scientology, and even the music industry, has taken on two of the world's top investigative agencies and won.

A 15 minute long recording has been released which revealed a plan to track and prosecute the collective hacking group and another, the lesser-known LulzSec.  Saying the hack "was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained [and] a criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible," the FBI has said it is unsure exactly how the hack happened.

It seems Anonymous somehow intercepted an email from an FBI agent to other law enforcement agencies throughout the world, including Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and France.

So what's the conservation about? In case you don't have time to listen to it, it's about 15 minutes, I will sum it up for you.  They talk about two people who are supposedly linked to Anonymous - British citizens Ryan Cleary and Jake Davis - and the details they gathered against them and a few other unnamed suspects.