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Victims of a data breach at the security analysis firm Stratfor apparently are being targeted a second time after speaking out about the hacking.
Stratfor said on its Facebook page that some individuals who offered public support for the company after it revealed it was hacked "may be being targeted for doing so."
The loose-knit hacking movement "Anonymous" claimed Sunday through Twitter that it had stolen thousands of credit card numbers and other personal information belonging to the company's clients. Anonymous members posted links to some of the information Sunday and more on Monday.
Stratfor, based in Austin, Texas, said its affected clients and its supporters "are at risk of having sensitive information repeatedly published on other websites." The company has resorted to communicating through Facebook while its website remains down and its email suspended.
A message posted online Monday by a group asserting it spoke for Anonymous mocked victims who spoke to The Associated Press about the experience of learning that their credit card information was stolen and used to make unauthorized charitable donations. The message also ridiculed someone who criticized the hacking on Facebook, saying "we went ahead and ran up your card a bit."
Some of the files appear to be alphabetical listings of Stratfor clients with related credit card information. The amount posted suggests that information about more than 100,000 individuals and thousands of companies was exposed. The posts also contain files of emails within Stratfor's information technology department, and what appears to be a list of passwords for Stratfor IT staff.
The posted data identifies thousands of major financial, defense and technology firms, media companies, government agencies and multiple units of the United Nations as Stratfor clients. The hackers said this was evidence that they had breached Straftor's "private clients," a claim the company denied.
The hackers initially claimed their goal was to use stolen the credit information to donate to charities at Christmas, and some victims confirmed unauthorized transactions were made from their credit accounts in recent days. The messages also said the hackers are targeting companies "that play fast and loose with their customers' private and sensitive information."
Stratfor provides political, economic and military analysis to help clients reduce cyber security risks, according to a description on its YouTube page. It charges subscribers for its reports and analysis, delivered through the web, emails and videos.
Anonymous warned it plans more attacks this week. The movement has previously claimed responsibility for attacks on credit card processors Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., eBay Inc.'s PayPal, as well as banks, groups in the music industry and the Church of Scientology.
Anonymous, reported to be a loose-knit group of hackers, became famous for attacking the companies and institutions that oppose anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange.