Wikileaks release: Stratfor dispels rumour of CEO resignation

Denouncing the disclosure of its emails by Wikileaks, the whistleblower website, as "deplorable breach of privacy", the US-based intelligence firm Stratfor cautioned that some of them may be forged or altered to include inaccuracies.

In a video message to Stratfor subscribers, founder and CEO, George Friedman said that his resignation email was forged.

"Emails sent to many people about my resignation were clearly forged," he said.
Friedman said in December that thieves hacked into Stratfor data systems and stole a large number of company emails, as well as private information of Stratfor subscribers and friends.

"Today Wikileaks is publishing the emails that were stolen in December. This is a deplorable, unfortunate -- and illegal -- breach of privacy," he said.

Friedman said that some of the emails might be forged or altered to include inaccuracies while some might be authentic.

"We will not validate either, nor will we explain the thinking that went into them. Having had our property stolen, we will not be victimised twice by submitting to questions about them," he said.

The CEO, however, said that the disclosure of these emails does not mean that there has been another hack of Stratfor's computer and data systems.

"Those systems, which we have rebuilt with enhanced security measures, remain secure and protected," he added.

Meanwhile, Stratfor did not respond to questions sent by PTI on allegations that it was paid by Dow Chemicals to spy on activists of Bhopal gas tragedy.

"As we have said before, Stratfor has worked to build good sources in many countries around the world, as any publisher of geopolitical analysis would do.

"We are proud of the relationships we have built, which help our analysts better understand the issues in many of these countries through the eyes of people who live there," Friedman said.

Claiming that emails are private property, he added that these ones were written casually and they should be read as such.