Stratfor email leak

WikiLeaks began publishing emails leaked from strategic intelligence company Stratfor on 27 February 2012 under the title Global Intelligence Files. By July 2014, WikiLeaks had published 5,543,061 Stratfor emails.[1] Wikileaks partnered with more than 25 world media organisations, including Rolling Stone, L’Espresso and The Hindu to analyse the documents.[2][3]

Stratfor is an Austin, Texas-based security group, which includes government agencies and some of the world’s biggest companies as its clients.[4] On December 24, 2011, hackers took control of Stratfor's website and released a list of names, credit card numbers, passwords, and home and email addresses. Those listed were affiliated with organizations such as Bank of America, the United States Department of Defense, Médecins Sans Frontières, Lockheed Martin, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the United Nations.[5] The hackers included Jeremy Hammond, who worked with Anonymous to release Stratfor's emails to WikiLeaks. The emails revealed Stratfor's surveillance of groups such as Occupy Wall Street and activists fighting for compensation from Dow Chemicals for the Bhopal disaster.[6]

The e-mails are alleged to include client information, notes between Stratfor employees and internal procedural documentation on securing intelligence data.[7] The communications date from July 2004 through to December 2011.[8] Stratfor said the emails appeared to be those that were stolen by hackers in December 2011.[9] In an initial announcement, WikiLeaks stated that they opened up a database of the emails to two dozen media organizations operating in several countries, including the McClatchy Company, l'Espresso, la Repubblica, ARD, the Russia Reporter,[10] and Rolling Stone,[9] along with a "sneak preview" to the Yes Men.[10]

In June 2012, Stratfor settled a class action lawsuit regarding the hack.[11]

  1. ^ "The Global Intelligence Files". WikiLeaks. Archived from the original on 2015-07-10. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference TPM0212 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Sengupta, Somini (27 February 2023). "WikiLeaks Publishes Intelligence Firm's E-Mails". New York Times. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference bi280212 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Perlroth, Nicole (December 27, 2011). "Questions About Motives Behind Stratfor Hack". The New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
  6. ^ Kopfstein, Janus (November 21, 2013). "Hacker with a Cause". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 27, 2018.
  7. ^ Fahmida Y. Rashid (February 27, 2012). "WikiLeaks' Stratfor Email Release Raises Uncomfortable Questions". eWeek. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  8. ^ "Stratfor was Dow's Bhopal spy: WikiLeaks". The Times of India. February 28, 2012. Retrieved February 28, 2012.
  9. ^ a b Satter, Raphael; Vinograd, Cassandra (February 27, 2012). "WikiLeaks publishes leaked Stratfor emails". The Seattle Times. Associated Press. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  10. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Reuters was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Katz, Basil (2012-06-28). "Stratfor to settle class action suit over hack". Reuters. Retrieved 2022-09-13.