The group may have hacked into the call after stealing a pass code, as fellow hacking group Anonymous did in February. They posted a 16-minute recording of a transatlantic conference call between the Police Central e-Crime Unit and the FBI after obtaining a code by breaking into an Irish police officer’s personal Gmail account.
Whether Team Poison gained access to the counter terror unit conversation in a similar way is unknown. The group’s posting describes it as a “leaked call”, but there are indications it may be a recording of a face-to-face conversation - perhaps even made via a phone line inadvertently left open.
One theory is that the recording was simply made after a police officer failed to put the phone down properly following one of the recorded prank calls. Actually intercepting a phone call would be more difficult.
During the recording, which lasts four minutes and 19 seconds, officers discuss a number of operational issues, including a “barrage of nuisance calls” over two nights from Team Poison to the 24-hour counter-terrorist hotline.
Such “phone bombing” is easily carried out from a home computer using free software programs such as Skype. The true source of the calls can be disguised by bouncing them of a series of servers in any location. Unscrupulous cold call marketers use comparable techniques.
According to the “leaked call” the phone bombing campaign made it impossible for genuine callers to get throug
Team Poison - which writes its name “TeaMp0isoN” - shares anti-law enforcement views, vocabulary and sense of humour with other, better known hacking groups such as LulzSec and Anonymous. Its purported attack on the counter-terror unit is also reminiscent of an earlier embarrassment for the Police Central e-Crime Unit and the FBI.
