U.S. government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton says certain of its data files ended up posted on the Internet due to an illegal attack.
The management and technology consulting firm said Tuesday it is conducting a review of the nature and extent of the attack that led to the data breach.
At this point, the McLean, Virginia, company doesn't believe that the attack extended beyond data pertaining to a learning management system for a government agency.
In a statement Tuesday, the company said "the posting of certain data files on the Internet yesterday was the result of an illegal attack. We are conducting a full review of the nature and extent of the attack. At this time, we do not believe that the attack extended beyond data pertaining to a learning management system for a government agency."
The firm said its "policy and security practice is generally not to comment on such matters; however, given the publicity about this event, we believe it is important to set out our preliminary understanding of the facts. We are communicating with our clients and analyzing the nature of this attack and the data files affected. We maintain our commitment to protect our clients and our firm from illegal thefts of information."
On Monday, members of the online activist group Anonymous claimed that they stole tens of thousands of encrypted military passwords from Booz Allen Hamilton and posted them online.