NATO breached, Anonymous publishes "restricted" data.
Back in June, Anonymous warned Nato not to “make the mistake of challenging" them: “Do not make the mistake of believing you can behead a headless snake,” the group said.
Now, with Anonymous reporting that NATO’s security has been breached to the tune of 1 gig of restricted data (which could be up to 894,784 pages of plaintext @ 1,200 characters a page), it’s yet to be seen what sort of damage the potential posting of this data could do.
For those new to these classifications, “NATO Restricted” is the lowest of NATO’s four classifications.
COSMIC TOP SECRET (CTS) - This security classification is applied to information
the unauthorized disclosure of which would cause exceptionally grave damage to NATO. (NOTE: The marking “COSMIC” is applied to TOP SECRET material to signify that it is the property of NATO. The term “NATO TOP SECRET” is not used.)NATO SECRET (NS) - This security classification is applied to information the
unauthorized disclosure of which would cause serious damage to NATO.NATO CONFIDENTIAL (NC) - This security classification is applied to information
the unauthorized disclosure of which would be damaging to the interests of NATO.NATO RESTRICTED (NR) - This security classification is applied to information the
unauthorized disclosure of which would be disadvantageous to the interests of NATO. (NOTE: Although the security safeguards for NATO RESTRICTED material are similar to those of FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY, OFFICIAL USE ONLY, or SENSITIVE, BUT UNCLASSIFIED information, “NATO RESTRICTED” is a security classification.)
So, if that’s all to come of this latest breach, Anonymous probably does not have the power to damage NATO interests. This may turn out to be more of a virtual egging. But still, who knows what they have in that gig?
One thing is for certain: despite the arrest of so many purported Anonymous hackers in Europe and the U.S., an organization without a membership roster, dues, clear mandate or leadership is likely to remain a tricky proposition for law enforcement. For those who would declare themselves to be Anonymous, the barriers to entry are low and the thrill of sticking it to the man may be high. Though this data breach might prove to be largely unimportant, a “virtual” organization can still do damage in the “real” world and these are early days…