An affiliate organisation to the FBI that co-ordinates information sharing between business and government to help combat cyber crime has confirmed that its website was hacked this weekend.

Hacking group Lulz Security claimed responsibility for attacking the Atlanta arm of the InfraGard Members Alliance, posting passwords of over 150 members of the group on its website. It also said it has used password details to steal personal and business emails of one member who reused his passwords for other systems.

InfraGard Atlanta Members Alliance President Paul Farley confirmed the breach in an email exchange with the Associated Press. "Someone did compromise the website. We do not at this time know how the attack occurred or the method used to reveal the passwords," Farley said.

In a statement, Lulz Security said the attack was in retailiation to NATO and the US government’s recent characterisation of cyber attacks as "acts of war". 

"They [NATO and Barack Obama] now treat hacking as an act of war," the group said. "So, we just hacked an FBI affiliated website (Infragard, specifically the Atlanta chapter) and leaked its user base. We also took complete control over the site and defaced it."

Although the name has only emerged recently, Lulz Security has claimed responsibility for a number recent cyber attacks on victims in including electronics giant Sony, US broadcaster PBS and gaming giant Nintendo.