Anonymous forces HBGary Federal CEO to step down

Aaron Barr says he needs to go in wake of Anonymous attacks so security company can move on

By Tim Greene, Network World
February 28, 2011 08:09 PM ET

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The hactivist group Anonymous has won for now its skirmish with the CEO of HBGary Federal, the network security firm whose e-mails were stolen and posted on the Internet, leaving the company red-faced over the content as well as the ease with which its network was hacked.

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CEO Aaron Barr told Threatpost that he’s stepping down in order to help the company regain its reputation and to start improving his own.

Three weeks ago, his promise to expose the names of Anonymous members drew an attack that yielded more than 50,000 HBGary Federal e-mails that the group posted on the Internet.

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The group also detailed publicly how it exploited weak passwords and unpatched servers to crack the network, then used information on passwords it gleaned to break into the company’s Gmail accounts.

Since then a string of stories about the content of the stolen e-mails has brought the company’s business practices into question.

"[G]iven that I’ve been the focus of much bad press, I hope that, by leaving, HBGary and HBGary Federal can get away from some of that. I’m confident they’ll be able to weather this storm," Barr says in an interview with Threatpost.

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