© Flickr/ Dennis SkleyUS
The group made good on their threats to release sensitive information on Monday evening, releasing names, social security numbers, and phone numbers of 20 people said to have been in CIA director John Brennan's email account.
The names included senior intelligence officials, who confirmed to CBS that they all worked for the Obama transition team in 2008.
The hacker has also claimed to have obtained Brennan's 47-page application for a security clearance, which would contain details about his prior jobs, his foreign contacts, finances, and other sensitive information. It soon might be released too.
The hacker, who uses the Twitter handle @phphax told the New York Post that he is an American teen who is not Muslim, but was motivated by his support for Palestine and opposition to US foreign policy to hack the official's accounts.
"We are not doing this for personal satisfaction, we are doing this because innocent people in Palestine are being killed daily," the hacker tweeted.
He claims to have been prank calling the CIA official, even once reciting his social security number to him.
CNN has reported that the CIA does not believe any classified information was compromised in the breech.
"We are aware of the reports that have surfaced on social media and have referred the matter to the appropriate authorities," the CIA said in a statement to the Post.
Hacker's twitter account has since been suspended.
He claims to have used social engineering to trick workers at Verizon into providing Brennan's personal information and then duping AOL and Comcast into allowing him access to his target's accounts.
The hacker told CNN that on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most difficult, hacking into Brennan's accounts was a one.
Comment: Doesn't seem releasing names, social security numbers, and phone numbers of 20 people would be that catastrophic.
False flag? Marginalize anyone who may sympathise with Palestinians, and ingredients of more stringent controls of the Internet?