Hackers target US institutions, leak 1 million accounts

A host of tweets posted recently reveal that hackers broke into some US based institutions including banks and accounts of politicians. The hackers' group called TeamGhostShell, allegedly linked to Anonymous, subsequently leaked the information online, totalling to a staggering one million accounts. The leader of the group, DeadMellox tweeted about the hack, "#ProjectHellFire - 1 million accounts/records leaked http://pastebin.com/BuabHTvr  http://pastesite.com/42485  https://privatepaste.com/450c2e35de  https://gist.github.com/0d73bee9565ea2372187 …"

In the tweet quoted above, the hacking group has provided links to the Pastebin dumps, wherein it has posted all the information they sourced. According to a write-up on the Pastebin dump by DeadMellox (@DeadMellox), the hackers targeted US institutions such as WallStreet, CIA services, MIT, consulting firms, political advisors, security companies, corporations, weapon's dealers, laboratories, Internet hosting services, academics, banks, police departments, aviation, the navy, stocks exchange, bonds exchange, markets, Emirates organisations, various businesses, hedge funds, estate agencies, public affairs, and robotics.

DeadMellox's tweet

DeadMellox shed more light on the motive behind the hack by writing "...for all the fallen hackers this year". Interestingly, he announced in the write-up, "We are also letting everyone know that more releases, collaborations with Anonymous and other, plus two more projects are still scheduled for this fall and winter. It's only the beginning." 

DeadMellox adds, "To conclude this summer's hacking spree, I will be giving away to anyone who's up for the challenge three different access points to three different groups/crews out there. It's our way of saying how great it's been raiding with you and let's hope that it isn't over just yet."

Recently, there were reports about a hacker going by the name Reckz0r (@Reckz0r), tweeting  that he has illegally access the servers of 79 large banks, which he had been targeting since the past three months. In a follow-up tweet, Reckz0r revealed that he leaked half the data from Visa, one of the world's largest credit and debit-card processing networks, and MasterCard. He also stated that the size of the file was 50GB or more.

Recently, Global Payments Inc. confirmed reports about a major cyber intrusion exposing the credit card numbers belonging to a whopping 1.5 million MasterCard and Visa customers. Reports thereafter highlighted that Visa dropped Global Payments from its list of approved service providers. However, it isn't clear at the moment, if the data that Reckz0r has now leaked is related to that.

The report further highlighted that Global Payments believed that the so-called Track 2 card data had been stolen during the breach, but card holders' names, addresses, and social security numbers were safe. A person improperly using Track 2 information can transfer the account number and expiration date of a card onto a magnetic stripe on a fraudulent card, and then try to use it to make online purchases. The attempt could be blocked, however, if an online merchant asks for the CVV code, or the three or four digits usually located on the back of card.