A self-described "A-Team" of volunteer cyber sleuths has disclosed how it helped identify the alleged Wikileaks whistleblower.
Vigilant, an alliance of some 600 volunteers, has been scouring internet traffic for 14 years and passing information to the US federal authorities, said its director, Chet Uber.
Speaking at DefCon, a computer hacking convention in Las Vegas, Mr Uber said the group monitored 12 regional internet service providers for terrorists, drug cartels and organised crime.
He said the Florida-based group had encouraged one of its members, Adrian Lamo, to inform the authorities about Bradley Manning, the former intelligence analyst who allegedly provided the Wikileaks site with classified military information.
Mr Lamo, a researcher, had struck up an online friendship with Mr Manning and later identified him as the source of a Wikileaks video showing the US military killing Iraqi civilians.
Mr Uber said Mr Lamo had been reluctant to expose his friend so the Vigilant chief arranged for him to meet federal agencies.
"I'm the one who called the US government. [Adrian] did a patriotic thing. He sees all kinds of hacks and he was seriously worried about people dying," he told Forbes.
Despite its unofficial status, experts say Vigilant is no amateur crime-fighting outfit.
Its members reportedly include the ex-security chief for the New York Stock Exchange and former technology officials at the National Security Agency and the FBI.
"We do things the government can't. This was never supposed to have been a public thing," said Mr Uber, who was at DefCon to recruit more hackers.
Vigilant also claims to have "collection officers" in 22 countries that gather intelligence or coordinate networks in person.
"We go into bars, look for lists of bad actors, get tips from people." said Mr Uber.
"But a significant amount of our intelligence comes from our monitoring the internet. We are looking at everything on websites, and websites are public."
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