‘They can’t track us down’ – hackers who cracked CIA Director Brennan’s email to RT

Part of a mysterious group of young hackers who stole confidential and work-related information from CIA Director John Brennan have spoken to RT, revealing why they targeted this senior official and what they’ve got planned for the future.

The resulting embarrassment caused by the group who are believed to be in their early 20s, highlights not only the poor email security of a number of senior intelligence officials in the US, but also the secrets within – such as the security clearance application Brennan submitted to the CIA on enrollment, containing the most confidential information any person could wish to protect.

RT managed to have a brief Twitter exchange with one member of the shady hacker group – before they immediately deleted the account – and contacted another member by phone for an interview.

The user @IncursioSubter was rather open about certain details of their identity: “I’m in the UK and my bio on Twitter stated that I was arrested for computer misuse acts, so people know I’m in UK. Age under 22,” the user said.

The young hacker praised former NSA contractor and fugitive Edward Snowden for revealing to the world the truth about American intelligence agencies and the fact they spied on their own population.

Asked why they had a preference for US targets, neither @IncursioSubter nor @Derplaughing – whom we spoke to later – said they wish to restrict themselves to just the one country.

“We’ve mainly planned the US because they’ve been funding Israel more for Palestine to be slaughtered and war crimes that’ve been turned [a blind eye to]… so it’s mainly for US but we also have plans for UK governments too,” @IncursioSubter said.

The user @IncursioSubter also mentioned why they decided to target the director of intelligence and how the group managed to carry out the hack, mentioning that “because he’s in high government” and that they fund Israel.

CIA Director John Brennan © Gretchen Ertl © Reuters

“It was relatively easy. We just pretended we worked for Verizon and that we needed additional information about Brennan,” something that is often considered the biggest mistake that countless online manuals on cyber protection warn people about.

“They were basically stupid enough to believe whatever we say without first verifying our identity. That was the first major problem.”

READ MORE: Leaked documents from CIA director’s email reveal thoughts on torture, Iran, Afghanistan

A conversation then ensued and the hackers called Brennan’s home.

The distressed director asked what they wanted. “We jokingly said ‘two trillion dollars.’” Then he said, “Really, how much do you want?”

“We then said, ‘We just want Palestine to be free and for the US government to stop funding Israel to kill innocent Palestinians.’”

Brennan hung up.

Asked what they felt was the most important piece of information they leaked, the hackers said “Probably the security clearance application. We’ve embarrassed the agency more than we’ve damaged it.

 “The head of CIA shouldn’t be using any personal emails to discuss work,” @IncurioSubter said about the questionable choice of AOL as an email server for the highest intelligence official in the US.

“He should also be required to use an email service that requires two factor authentication. I know Mr Brennan and authorities probably want all of us in jail; however, I don’t think the agency can track us down. We used basic social engineering because we didn’t need advanced social engineering to compromise his account,” they explained.

READ MORE: CIA tortures: Will US be held accountable?

The two also told RT they’re planning to release more incriminating information on other officials on November 5, but refused to discuss details of the operation.

From the tone of the conversation, it seem like they’re far from done.

“People think we're doing it for fame but as we have mentioned, it’s basically to get a point - never trust a government, we want to expose governments for what they are doing, for their lies, for them funding war crimes and such,” as @Derplaughing concluded.

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