In the Wall Street Journal their was a very interesting article about hacking on the internet.
"At least one previously unreported attack in 2008, code-named Byzantine Candor by American investigators, yielded more than 50 megabytes of e-mail messages and a complete list of user names and passwords from an American government agency, a Nov. 3, 2008, cable revealed for the first time. "
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/world/asia/05wikileaks-china.html?_r=1