Hackers bragged that pretty vanilla breach included FBI watchlist? Well, colour us shocked

A hacker collective calling itself Pokemongo that published what it claimed to be personal data of US FBI agents has followed up by breaching the American Advertising Federation. The Pokemongo group published a 22,000-row CSV file containing names, email addresses, employers and other data relating to what appears to be …

[GnuTzu]

Advertisers

Oh, if only I wasn't strictly white hat, they'd soon learn what it means to be treated like cockroaches.

[GnuTzu]

Re: Advertisers

In case anyone is unfamiliar with the meme, there is a saying among marketers: "consumers are like cockroaches: they grow immunity and adapt." I find this to be a little more than unsettling, and it makes me despise those who try to ram abusive advertising down people's throats even more. They've got all that marketing data and they still don't know how to treat consumers like human beings. Just what kind of disease has infected the minds of marketers and advertisers?

[Robert Helpmann??]

Re: Advertisers

Just what kind of disease has infected the minds of marketers and advertisers?

I think it is an unfortunate genetic disorder that is expressed primarily through career choice. That or a previously undocumented prion disease brought on by eating children.

[lglethal]

Media organisations jumping on a juicy press release without checking the facts? That would nevvvverrrrr happen. *rolleyes*

Well done El Reg, for being one of the few Professional medai outlets left in the room.... (have one of these --->)

[a_yank_lurker]

Most of your regular news outlets are nothing more the purveyors of yellow journalism where facts do not matter; only juicy headlines to get attention. Also, running done the source and actually investigating the claims is often real work which these outfits never do; they just regurgitate a press release and get a couple quotes from one of the reliable 'expert' babble-mouths and call it a day.

[Eddy Ito]

Ok, now I'm wondering why the FBI wouldn't have a bunch of AAF ad folk on their watch list. Oh, perhaps it's like the professional courtesy between sharks and lawyers.

[_LC_]

Remember that the FBI is seriously criminal

Therefore, publishing personal data of US FBI agents sounds like an excellent counterterrorism move.

[Rajesh Kanungo]

Re: Remember that the FBI is seriously criminal

Look up 'ad hominem attack', please.

[ds6]

Re: Remember that the FBI is seriously criminal

Compared to eg. the CIA or NSA, the FBI is relatively tame...

[Chris G]

But you can never leave

The popular business networking site even has dead people who amazingly are still trying to connect with me. One, a good friend passed away four years ago, so far I have not been able to get through to them that he is no longer on this planet.

[Mark 85]

Re: But you can never leave

Like certain other sites, they don/t care as even the dead are still "active users" for ad billing purposes. They are truly "Hotel California".

[Christoph]

Re: But you can never leave

They check whether people are really dead, and if they are still voting in Chicago they assume they must be alive.

[the Jim bloke]

Re: "popular" business networking site...

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

— Inigo Montoya,

[Uberior]

Re: But you can never leave

There's no data protection for the dead.

[Doctor Syntax]

"We have checked with the national database server/data provider and they have assured us that the FBINAA national database is safe and secure."

What do the expect the provider to say? Unless they were knowingly running an insecure database they'll think they're secure irrespective of whether they are or not. It's a meaningless thing to say.

[Twanky]

It's a meaningless thing to say.

'The FBI National Academy Associates, a business offering training and professional networking services to FBI-affiliated persons, said...'

'Nuff said.

[sitta_europea]

Do you mean Linkedin?

[Holtsmark]

SSSSSSSHH!

Every time you mention that website which shall not be named, a telemarketeer earns his horns..