President Obama: Authorities Looking Into Hacking

As more and more of our daily commerce moves online more and more of our financial lives now live in the cloud so you don't have to be a celebrity to take alarm from the latest incidents. Of high... See More

As more and more of our daily commerce moves online more and more of our financial lives now live in the cloud so you don't have to be a celebrity to take alarm from the latest incidents. Of high profile hacking. Nearly a dozen bold faced names including political luminaries like Michelle Obama and vice president Joseph Biden and allegedly had their most private. Financial information hacked and then posted. Here's ABC's justice correspondent Pierre Thomas. Kim Kardashian has made a living by putting her entire life in public and but for someone to expose the web site may have revealed -- too much information specifically her credit report. -- and who declined comment was one of more than a dozen celebrities and government officials targeted -- in the highest profile privacy breaches in recent history. Personal financial details on display. For all the world to see -- -- and Britney Spears to First Lady Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton. -- all apparent victims of what's known as a boxing attack the I think involves gathering private documents and posting them on the Internet. Even the most protected people on the planet allegedly hit. Vice President Biden attorney general Eric Holder even FBI director Robert -- In an exclusive interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos. President Obama would not say whether the posted information is authentic. But confirmed that authorities are trying to find out what happened. We should not be surprised that if you've got hackers who wanna. That they can access people's private information it is a big problem right into the White House and again I cam not confirming -- that's what happened. But you've got web sites out there right now that sell people's credit cards. That have been stolen. -- Secret Service and FBI have launched full scale investigations. They're trying to determine if the information as authentic how it with accessed and ultimately who is responsible for posting -- Sources tell ABC news some of the posted information appears to be accurate and would not be widely available to the public. Credit reports may include Social Security numbers and typically provide financial information about people's deaths. So and when someone has your credit report what kind of bad things can -- do. Well they can masquerade as you. If they have your credit report that's all they need to take over your identity to open up accounts in your name so -- the First Lady the vice president secretary of state. This would not be good news if this is legit. This is terrible news to have this information out there. Tonight Equifax credit reporting agency confirmed that fraudulent an unauthorized access occurred involving four high profile people. But the company declined to identify them. LA police chief Charlie Beck was also target that we find individuals and and I'm confident that we will. They're responsible we will prosecute them. Other celebrities included curious mix of entertainers and politicians -- Hogan Ashton Kutcher. Sarah Palin -- warning that the web -- appears to have originated in Russia with sources tell us the attack -- been launched from anywhere. And that it will take a long time to track this digital trail. It can happen to anyone millions of Americans are vulnerable with thousands having their private financial information compromised each year. But increasingly Hollywood's elite are becoming the most desired targets for hackers and hoaxes. -- more than a year very private and sometimes compromising photos of Scarlett Johansson. Mila Kunis Christina regulator leaked onto the web. The FBI arrested this man Christopher Chaney in Florida and charged him with -- six counts of identity theft. Unauthorized access to a protected computer and wiretapping. Just yesterday a twelve year old boy admitted to charges that he targeted Ashton Kutcher and Justin Bieber. -- an elaborate formal pact known -- wiley -- is when someone manipulates computers and phone equipment to make a prank 911 call. Luring police to mobilized swat teams. These -- make it look like the calls. Actually coming from the victims themselves. This -- when one called lost an eight man swat team to this Colorado Springs house. Inside a teenage girl and father -- and in critical danger was so they thought. I've got two people here -- -- -- what happens to people that are held hostage. It all turned out to be a hoax one of hundreds of cases each year of cyber criminals hacking into phone lines and placing false 911 calls. This was the massive police response when Ashton Kutcher was the victim. People primarily swat because they want to watch that is the relevant it's a power thing Justin Bieber was wanted just one week after could -- In a separate case LAPD got a call that the kidnapping was in progress and Miley Cyrus whose house it was all a hoax. The pop superstar wasn't even -- Dirty tricks done remotely. Online. Were Nightline I'm Pierre Thomas in Washington.