Anonymous, the online sort-of-anarchic sort-of-activist group, forced Aaron Barr, head of HBGary Federal, the massive American tech security company, to resign. Which is sort of a huge deal in the way that Charlie Sheen isn’t. Even though I love everything that Charlie Sheen touches.

Three weeks ago, a hacking scandal engineered by Anonymous revealed damning information about Barr, HBGary Federal, its clients – including the Bank of America – and the American government, in case you guys needed to make sure that any of the above were beyond reproach.

Barr initially responded by telling the Financial Times that he’d be revealing the names of some of Anonymous’ “leaders”, suggesting that he had entirely missed the point; Anonymous responded by hacking the HBGary site and stealing 71 000 emails, and posting them online. The leaked data revealed borderline illegal tactics initiated at the Bank of America, including blackmail, cyberattacks and forgery. A similar exchange between HBGary and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was also posted.

Barr, as figurehead of the whole plague-ridden ship, has resigned, citing threats to himself and his family, and has made no reference to any failures on his part as head of a massive security firm.

[Source: Forbes]