LulzSec and Anonymous hit FBI and Nato with ManTech hack

Hactivist groups Anonymous and LulzSec have posted nearly 400MB of documents they claim to have stolen from US government cyber security contractor ManTech International, as part of the ongoing AntiSec campaign to expose corruption and collusion in public and private sector organisations.

The documents were uploaded to The Pirate Bay, and are reported to include photographs, spreadsheets and CVs relating to the firm's work with several major customers including the FBI and Nato.

The information is not thought to be particularly incendiary, but Anonymous and LulzSec have certainly embarrassed the organisation, like many before it, by exposing basic flaws in its cyber security.

"Well done, good sirs. You failed epically. Because we pwned ManTech utterly and thoroughly; and we did not need hundreds of millions for it. In fact, we did not require any funds at all, we did it with Lulz," the groups wrote in a statement on The Pirate Bay.

"So we begin by releasing 400MB of internal data from ManTech, this gives some insight on how they are wasting the tax payer's money. We are providing these ManTech documents so the public can see for themselves how their tax money is being spent. "

ManTech released a statement to reassure its customers. "Given current publicity, we wish to assure our customers, employees, shareholders and business partners that ManTech takes seriously recent reports of a cyber threat, and we responsibly and actively address all sources of information about threats to our information and assets and those of our customers," the firm said.

The data dump is the latest move in the tit-for-tat game between law enforcers and the hacktivist groups, following several high-profile international arrests of alleged members of the groups this week.