FBI Deals Major Blow to Hacker Collective, Stratfor Data Thieves

The FBI's New York field office Tuesday announced the arrests of six key hackers allegedly responsible for crimes affecting over 1 million people.

The hackers all were aligned with the collective Anonymous or its offshoots, including LulzSec, AntiSec and Internet Feds, according to the FBI announcement.

Among the hackers was Jeffrey Hammond, arrested in Chicago and charged in the Stratfor breach last December, in which account information for 860,000 subscribers to the geopolitical analysis and research firm was stolen.

"Hammond and his co-conspirators stole credit card information for approximately 60,000 credit card users and used some of the stolen data to make unauthorized charges exceeding $700,000. Hammond and his co-conspirators also publicly disclosed some of the confidential information they had stolen," the FBI said.

News reports said the FBI was aided by a top member of LulzSec who had been secretly working for the government after being charged in hacking-related crimes last year.

An FBI official told Fox News, "This is devastating to the organization. We're chopping off the head of LulzSec."