FBI profile of Anonymous confirmed as a hoax

A document claiming to be an FBI report on hacktivist group Anonymous has been confirmed as a hoax.

Psychological Profiles of Anonymous Leadership (PDF) was posted by the FBI earlier this month, claiming to offer a brief profile of each of the reported leaders of the hacking group.

The document purports to profile Anonymous members Topiary and Kayla, who have already been arrested, as well as outspoken members Sabu, Tflow and JoePie91.

The eight-page document includes a short background report on the group copied from Wikipedia, and suggests that law enforcement groups track down the hackers by following chat rooms in which Anonymous members interact.

Sabu is described as an IT professional living in the New York area, and Kayla is a US man with a history of abuse as a child and a "potentially violent" nature.

Police in the UK have arrested two men who are believed to have jointly operated under the Kayla alias.

Carole Theriault, senior security consultant at Sophos, noted that uncertainty surrounding communications from Anonymous had added to confusion over the report, and that, if the group did in fact create the document, it could damage the credibility of Anonymous releases.

"Anonymous has notoriety because many people have written about it and, if Anonymous did indeed pull this together, they have just lied to their online followers," Theriault said in a blog post.

"Please, can we all make sure we take this collective's word with a grain of salt next time?"