LONDON (AP) _ Global intelligence analysis firm Stratfor has relaunched its website after hackers brought down its servers and stole thousands of credit card numbers and other personal information belonging to its customers.
Chief Executive George Friedman acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that the Austin, Texas-based company hadn’t encrypted customer information and said this decision had embarrassed the company.
Loose-knit hacking collective Anonymous claimed responsibility for the attack over the Christmas holidays. It had said it was able to get the details in part because Stratfor didn’t bother encrypting them.
Stratfor had previously declined to say if the information was left unencrypted. Members of Anonymous have said it was targeting companies “that play fast and loose with their customers’ private and sensitive information.”
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