Note: Quotes were originally in Icelandic and have been translated.
In 2011, the company DataCell was providing key support for WikiLeaks by allowing it to process donations after other financial avenues had been shut down. A leaked chat log from that July between Ólafur Sigurvinsson, one of two heads of DataCell, and Sigurdur Thordarson discusses reopening payments for WikiLeaks, activities with LulzSec, and a direct solicitation to hack the emails of two senior Icelandic politicians.
In reporting by The Rolling Stone and Parmy Olson’s We Are Anonymous, the targeting of Icelandic institutions was partially prompted by a decision in January to cancel a plan to lease the Landsnet‘s former headquarters to DataCell, selling it to Iceland’s Ministry of Finance instead. The decision caused headaches for DataCell, and led to accusations from both DataCell and WikiLeaks that the decision was aimed at disrupting WikiLeaks.
As Kristinn Hrafnsson wrote in a letter to Minister of Industry Katrína Júlíusdóttir, unless it was proven otherwise it was assumed that “a public Icelandic company is colluding with the forces that are trying to bring WikiLeaks to its knees by all available means and sacrifice significant Icelandic interests in the process.” Ólafur Sigurvinsson similarly said in an interview that “one wonders if this is a direct attack on freedom of expression and if the Icelandic government is afraid of letting Wikileaks into the country.”
An introductory overview of the Icelandic hacking timeline can be found here and here, but by mid-June Sigurdur Thordarson had made contact with Jake Davis, known in Anonymous as Topiary. On the same day they established contact, the IRC chat room #icelulz was created, and dedicated to hacking Iceland’s institutions. It’s important to note that these efforts existed before and independent of Sigurdur’s communications with Ólafur.
On July 5th, Ólafur Sigurvinsson started an encrypted chat with Sigurdur Thordarson. Sigurdur asked Ólafur about a previous conversation, where he’d said he would need hackers in fall. Ólafur explained that they’d need some hackers to check the security for various companies, presumably with their permission. It was for a TV program, which would show how easy it was to compromise the security of a company. Sigurdur asked if the hackers would be recorded, to which Ólafur reassured him that only what they did would be recorded, but not the hackers themselves.
Ólafur explained he already had two hackers from the Chaos Computer Club working in Switzerland, but didn’t elaborate on who they were. Sigurdur boasted that he could do it, but not in front of a camera. (He often exagerrated his technical abilities.) After that, the conversation takes a sudden turn.
Ólafur calls this “brilliant” and suddenly says that it would be “fun to create a bit of havoc.” In a separate message nine seconds later, Ólafur suggests downloading Minister of Finance Steingrímur Sigfússon’s mailbox. Almost simultaneously, Sigurdur tells Ólafur that the Icelandic government will be hit hard soon, an oblique reference to the #icelulz chatroom.
When Ólafur asks what that means, Sigurdur explains that he and some others are working on getting the emails from Iceland’s parliament. Ólafur calls it “brilliant” again and asks him to get Katrín Júlíusdóttir’s mailbox, adding that there’s a lot he wants to see because he suspected there was corruption to be discovered.
Sigurdur briefly mentioned an alleged problem with the banking system and hinted at a role in causing it, while Ólafur told Sigurdur that Valitor was opening a payment system for DataCell and WikiLeaks. In his eyes, it was victory – “the credit card companies are giving in.” The announcement would be made in a day or two, and Valitor stopped processing payments before long. According to Reuters, fewer than a hundred payments were processed. According to Andreas Fink, who ran DataCell with Ólafur, Valitor processed “thousands” of donations. Investigations have since tied Fink to surveillance networks.
At that point Sigurdur reveals to Ólafur that he’s working with LulzSec, saying that it’s “fun to play” when they’re with you. Ólafur reiterates that he wants to see Katrín Júlíusdóttir’s emails and any corruption there. Sigurdur promises that he’ll have it in two weeks before leaving to get something to eat.
Ólafur Sigurvinsson later became the official brand manager for Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, and was a key figure in what Assange called the “distraction operations” used in Snowden’s escape to Russia. Ólafur did not respond to multiple requests for comment. A copy of the leaked chat log has been uploaded to DocumentCloud or viewed below.
