Real Heroes: Anonymous attacks US sheriffs' websites

The group known as Anonymous said on Saturday it had hacked into some 70 mostly rural law enforcement websites in the US, a data breach that at least one local police chief said leaked sensitive information about an ongoing investigation.

The loose-knit international hacking collective posted a cache of data to the internet early on Saturday, including emails stolen from officers, tips that appeared to come from members of the public, credit card numbers and other information.

Anonymous said it had stolen 10 gigabytes worth of data in retaliation for the arrests of its sympathisers in the US and Britain.

Tim Mayfield, a police chief in Gassville, Arkansas, told the Associated Press that some of the material posted online – including pictures of teenage girls in their swimsuits – was sent to him as part of an ongoing investigation. He declined to provide more details.

Mayfield's comments were the first indication that the hack might be serious. Since news of some kind of cyber-attack first filtered out less than a week ago, various police officials said they were unaware of the hacking or dismissed it as nothing to worry about.

Though many of the leaked emails appeared benign, some of the stolen material seen by the AP carried sensitive information, including tips about suspected crimes, profiles of gang members and security training.

The emails were mainly from sheriffs' offices in Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Mississippi. Many of the websites were operated by a media services hosting company in Mountain Home, Arkansas, and most, if not all, were either unavailable on Saturday or had been wiped clean of content. The company, Brooks-Jeffrey Marketing, declined to comment.

In a statement, Anonymous said it had leaked "a massive amount of confidential information that is sure to (embarrass), discredit and incriminate police officers across the US". The group said it hoped the disclosures would "demonstrate the inherently corrupt nature of law enforcement using their own words" and "disrupt and sabotage their ability to communicate and terrorise communities".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/aug/07/anonymous-attacks-us-sheriffs-websites

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Real Heroes: Anonymous attacks US sheriffs' websites

Real Heroes: Anonymous attacks US sheriffs' websites

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