Following infiltrating the websites of Sony, PBS and Nintendo, hacker group LulzSec, which is allegedly aligned to WikiLeaks, has claimed that it hacked the website of a private-sector FBI affiliate called InfraGard.

LulzSec said that it breached security of the InfraGard site after NATO and the US President raised the stakes with regard to hacking, by treating it as an act of war.

According to the group's claims, they stole the emails, passwords and contact details of as many as 180 users of the non-profit organization InfraGard, which links the businesses with law enforcement.

Hackers also defaced the InfraGard Atlanta website by posting a video on YouTube, challenging, "Let it flow you stupid FBI battleships."

LulzSec claimed that Karim Hijazi, chief of Delaware-based network security firm Unveillance, had tried to pay them to get competitors' sites hacked.

But, Hijazi claimed that LulzSec threatened him in order to get hold of money and to force him to disclose sensitive data about his botnet intelligence that would have exposed several other individuals, businesses and government agencies to risk of massive distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.

Separately, Japanese electronics giant Sony disclosed that it contacted the FBI and took action to protect is sites against cyber attacks, in response of LulzSec's recent attack on SonyPictures. com.