Anonymous hacks Monsanto, exposes 2500 employees' info

Anonymous, the notorious internet hacktivist collective, claimed to have discovered vulnerabilities that allowed it to take down Monsanto mail servers and extract massive data including the names, addresses, email contacts and phone numbers of employees of the multi-national giant Monsanto.

Anonymous hacks Monsanto computers
The hackers’ attack on Monsanto came as part of its anti-government AntiSec campaign, which earlier this week saw the group inflict a similar attack on military contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.

AntiSec comprises elements of the Anonymous and the now defunct hacking group Lulz Security hacker group.

The hackers said it took two month for its members to expose information about business practices of Monsanto, which is the world's largest producer of genetically modified seeds, and the seller of the controversial pesticide 'RoundUp.'

Anonymous, the notorious internet hacktivist collective, claimed to have discovered vulnerabilities that allowed it to take down Monsanto mail servers and extract massive data including the names, addresses, email contacts and phone numbers of employees of the multi-national giant Monsanto.

Anonymous tweets about hack
The hacker group reported about the attack via its twitter feed: "#Anonymous hacks Monsanto computers; posts employee info | http://on.msnbc.com/qhqs1m #OpMonsanto goes #AntiSec.

"Over the last 2 months we have pushed the exposure of hundreds of pages of articles detailing Monsanto's corrupt, unethical, and downright evil business practices. We've created a nice go-to reference guide [...] where anyone can read up on and add their own info about MonsantoCo.”

Anonymous warned that more attacks are still to come.

Monsanto confirms hack
Meanwhile, Monsanto has confirmed that its network had fallen prey to a cyber attack from the hacker collective Anonymous.

In a statement given to CNET news, the company's director of corporate affairs Tom Helscher said, “Last month, Monsanto experienced a disruption to our Web sites which appeared to be organized by a cyber-group.

"In addition, this group also recently published publicly available information on approximately 2,500 individuals involved in the broader global agriculture industry.

"Contrary to initial media reports, only 10 per cent of this publicly available information related to Monsanto's current and former employees. The list also included contact details for media outlets as well as other agricultural companies."

Another Anonymous campaign underway
The news comes just after the hacker issued a statement promising that it would begin a new campaign entitled 'Operation Green Rights' against any and all companies it perceived as harming the environment.

The campaign targets companies like Exxon Mobil, Conoco Phillips, Canadian Oil Sands Ltd., Imperial Oil, the Royal Bank of Scotland and many others, which will likely have a bad impact on the environment.

"This week, activists are gathering along U.S. Highway 12 in Montana to protest the transformation of a serene wilderness into an industrial shipping route, bringing megaloads of refinery equipment to the Alberta Tar Sands in Canada.

“Anonymous now joins the struggle against 'Big Oil' in the heartland of the US. We stand in solidarity with any citizen willing to protest corporate abuse," the group's manifesto reads. “Anonymous will not stand by idly and let these environmental atrocities continue. This is not the clean energy of the future that we are being promised.”