Anonymous, the hacktivist collective, strikes again, and it looks like they’re ending 2011 with a bang.  In a most ironic twist, Anonymous decided to breach Strategic Forecasting Inc., a.k.a. Stratfor,  a global intelligence company founded in 1996 in Austin, Texas by George Friedman, CIO and CEO of the company, which is known for specializing in providing security for high profile clients.

On December 25th, Christmas day, Anonymous announced that AnonSanta had something special for everyone.  They started leaving breadcrumbs as to what AnonSanta was up to, sharing images of what seemed like donations from unsuspecting clients of Stratfor donating to different organizations.  And after a few hours of teasing, Anonymous finally posted this in their Twitter account:

Merry #LulzXmas to everyone http://imagebin.org/190224 Stratfor rooted. All your base are belong to us. <3 #Anonymous

Anonymous mocks Stratfor further by tweeting:

The private (and secret) client list of #Stratfor: http://pastebin.com/8MtFze0s| Not so private and secret anymore. #Antisec #LulzXmas

The link directs you to a lengthy list of Stratfor clients but according to Anonymous, the list is just a part of a 200GB data they stole from Stratfor.  Anonymous boasted that they stole Stratfor’s confidential client list, which includes Apple Inc. and the U.S. Air Force, as well as the Miami Police Department.  Of the stolen data, more than 4,000 credit card numbers, passwords and home addresses are being used by Anonymous to make generous donations.

Allen Barr, a recently retired cyber crimes expert at Texas Department of Banking, found that his account had been compromised when he discovered that he was billed $700.

“It was all charities, the Red Cross, CARE, Save the Children. So when the credit card company called my wife she wasn’t sure whether I was just donating,” said Barr, who wasn’t aware that his information had been compromised when Stratfor’s computers were hacked until a reporter with the Associated Press called.  “It made me feel terrible. It made my wife feel terrible. We had to close the account,” Barr added.

If giving money to charity makes people feel terrible, it makes you wonder if Anonymous did the right thing.  It’s quite a Robin Hood story, and definitive of what Anonymous has been preaching all year long.  Not surprisingly though, the “act of charity” has unsettled many that thought their data was safe.

Stratfor tried to appease their clients by sending an e-mail reassuring them that they are doing everything they can to fix the security breach.  As of today, Stratfor’s website is still down.

“We have reason to believe that the names of our corporate subscribers have been posted on other web sites,” the e-mail said. “We are diligently investigating the extent to which subscriber information may have been obtained.”