Aaron Barr, the embattled chief executive of security firm HBGary Federal, has reportedly announced his resignation amidst ongoing cyber attacks against his company as well as controversial email revelations exposed by cyber vigilantes known as Anonymous.

"I need to focus on taking care of my family and rebuilding my reputation," Barr told Threatpost. "It's been a challenge to do that and run a company. And, given that I've been the focus of much of the bad press, I hope that, by leaving, HBGary and HBGary Federal can get away from some of that. I'm confident they'll be able to weather this storm."

Meanwhile comments at AnonNews.org were exuberant, if unprintable here.

Anonymous, the clandestine group that operates "Operation Payback" and reportedly includes members of the "/b/" bulletin board 4chan.org, attacked HBGary's site on February 6, days after Barr told the Financial Times that he knew and planned to expose the identities of leaders behind the 'Anonymous' collective. The cyber attack resulted in the defacing of Barr's online networking profiles and exposure of 71,800 e-mails at AnonLeaks. HBGary also pulled out of last week's RCA Security Conference when someone discovered an ominous note from Anonymous left at its booth.

On Tuesday, the Washington Post learned that House Democrats were planning to request a Congressional probe into HBGary, a federal contractor, and other security firms amidst revelations uncovered in the e-mails. Specifically, the lawmakers reportedly said the e-mails revealed, "a conspiracy to use subversive techniques to target Chamber [of Commerce] critics" including "possible illegal actions against citizens engaged in free speech."

The lawmakers say it is "deeply troubling" that "tactics developed for use against terrorists may have been unleashed against American citizens."

For more, see PCMag's look at how the 'Anonymous' web movement took off.