Group hacks mostly rural sheriff sites, steals data for international arrests of its members
Nomaan Merchant and Raphael Satter / SeattlePI – Associated Press / August 6, 2011
LONDON (AP) — The group known as Anonymous said Saturday it has hacked into some 70 mostly rural law enforcement websites in the United States, a breach that one local police chief said had leaked information about an ongoing investigation.
The loose-knit international hacking collective posted a cache of data to the Web early Saturday, including emails stolen from officers, tips which appeared to come from members of the public, credit card numbers and other sensitive information.
Anonymous said it had stolen 10 gigabytes worth of data in all.
Tim Mayfield, a police chief in small-town Gassville, Arkansas, told The Associated Press that some of the material posted online — pictures of teenage girls in their swimsuits — related to an ongoing investigation, which he declined to discuss further.
Mayfield’s comments were the first indication that the hack might be serious. Since news that some kind of an attack first filtered out earlier this week, various police officials dismissed it as nothing to worry about.
“We’ve not lost any information,” was one typical response, given by McMinn County Sheriff Joe Guy to WDEF-TV in Tennessee on Tuesday.
But many of Guy’s emails were among those leaked to the Web on Saturday, and others seen by The Associated Press carried sensitive information, including tips about suspected crimes, profiles of gang members, and security training.
The emails were mainly from sheriffs’ offices in places such as Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Mississippi. Most, if not all, of their websites were either unavailable or had been wiped clean of content.
Anonymous said in a statement that it was leaking “a massive amount of confidential information that is sure to (embarrass), discredit and incriminate police officers across the US.” The group added that 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 terrorize communities.”
The group also posted five credit card numbers it said it used to make “involuntary donations.” At least four of the names and other personal details published to the Internet appeared genuine, although those contacted by The Associated Press said they did not know whether their financial information had been compromised.
Many calls to various sheriffs’ offices across the country went unanswered or weren’t returned Saturday, but several others confirmed that a cyberattack had taken place.
In Arkansas, St. Francis County Sheriff Bobby May said his department and several others were targeted in retaliation for the arrest of hackers who had targeted Apple Computer Inc., among other companies.
“It’s an international group who are hacking into law enforcement websites across the nation is my understanding,” May told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. He said the FBI was investigating the attacks.
Although the hackers said the attack occurred days ago, many sheriffs first learned of its scope only when contacted by the AP.
“I had no idea that hackers had gotten into that email,” said Mayfield, the police chief from Gassville.
Anonymous has increasingly been targeted by law enforcement in the United States and elsewhere following a string of high-profile data thefts and denial of service attacks — operations which block websites by flooding them with traffic.
Last month the FBI and British and Dutch officials made 21 arrests, many of them related to the group’s attacks on Internet payment provider PayPal Inc., which has been targeted over its refusal to process donations to WikiLeaks.
Earlier, 19-year-old Ryan Cleary was charged with attacks on the Britain’s Serious Organized Crime Agency and various U.K. music sites. More recently, Jake Davis, alleged to be a spokesman for Anonymous known as “Topiary,” was arrested on Britain’s remote Shetland Islands by Scotland Yard’s specialist e-crime unit.
Anonymous said the most recent attack was revenge.
“We are doing this in solidarity with Topiary and the Anonymous PayPal … defendants as well as all other political prisoners who are facing the gun of the crooked court system,” it said.
Many of the websites affected Saturday were registered to Brooks-Jeffrey Marketing Inc., a Mountain Home, Arkansas-based media services firm which provides support to law enforcement sites across the country. Anonymous said in its statement that it had pulled off its attack by compromising the group’s server.
Brooks-Jeffrey Marketing did not immediately return several calls and emails seeking comment.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Yeah, here’s the text from the Piratebay page where one can download said documents (I’m not even gonna touch it….find it yourself and be my guest).
On one hand, it’s good to see someone forcing the “transparency in government” hand whether the powers that be enjoy it or not. On the other, there will be sanctions and “We The People” will end up paying for it.
Anyhow….it’s interesting reading to say the least.
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ANTISEC DELIVERS OVER 10GB OF PRIVATE POLICE EMAILS, TRAINING FILES, SNITCH INFO
AND PERSONAL INFO IN RETALIATION FOR ANONYMOUS ARRESTS #ShootingSheriffsSaturday
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“Missouri Sheriff’s Association Executive Director Mick Covington tells KHQA
that the most the hackers got from their organization were email addresses.
Contrary to AntiSec’s announcement, there were no critical details like names,
social security numbers or other personal information details on their server
that was hacked.” (DOX AND EMAILS DROPPED)
(http://www.connecttristates.com/news/story.aspx?id=646614)
“Based upon past releases of information, the content of these releases are
sometimes manipulated and edited in an attempt of embarrass or discredit
government agencies and law enforcement. Also in their release, they threaten to
publish the names of inmates and confidential informants. Informant and other
sensitive data are not kept on the website, and we believe any information that
would be released would be false in an attempt to hinder future investigations
by law enforcement.” – Sheriff John Montgomery (MORE DOX DROPPED)
Website-hacked?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE)
“President of the Missouri Sheriff’s Association Steve Cox said he thinks the
hackers claim to have more information than they really do. Cox said the group
just wants glory and fame.” (DOX AND SSN DROPPED)
(http://www.komu.com/news/update-group-hacks-missouri-sheriff-s-association/)
“Sheriff Joe Guy says, “We’ve not lost any information. There’s no, we’ve not
been hacked. I think that’s been a fear. No sensitive information is on that
website anyway.” (DOX AND EMAILS DROPPED AGAIN)
http://wdef.com/news/mcminn_county_sheriffs_department_website/08/2011
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A week after we defaced and destroyed the websites of over 70 law enforcement
agencies, we are releasing a massive amount of confidential information that is
sure to embarass, discredit and incriminate police officers across the US. Over
10GB of information was leaked including hundreds of private email spools,
password information, address and social security numbers, credit card numbers,
snitch information, training files, and more. We hope that not only will
dropping this info demonstrate the inherently corrupt nature of law enforcement
using their own words, as well as result in possibly humiliation, firings, and
possible charges against several officers, but that it will also disrupt and
sabotage their ability to communicate and terrorize communities.
We are doing this in solidarity with Topiary and the Anonymous PayPal LOIC
defendants as well as all other political prisoners who are facing the gun of
the crooked court system. We stand in support of all those who struggle against
the injustices of the state and capitalism using whatever tactics are most
effective, even if that means breaking their laws in order to expose their
corruption. You may bust a few of us, but we greatly outnumber you, and you can
never stop us from continuing to destroy your systems and leak your data.
We have no sympathy for any of the officers or informants who may be endangered
by the release of their personal information. For too long they have been using
and abusing our personal information, spying on us, arresting us, beating us,
and thinking that they can get away with oppressing us in secrecy. Well it’s
retribution time: we want them to experience just a taste of the kind of misery
and suffering they inflict upon us on an everyday basis. Let this serve as a
warning to would-be snitches and pigs that your leaders can no longer protect
you: give up and turn on your masters now before it’s too late.
// A TALE OF TWO OWNINGS
It took less than 24 hours to root BJM’s server and copy all their data to our
private servers. Soon after, their servers were taken down and a news article
came out suggesting they received advance FBI “credible threat” notice of a
“hacking plot”. At this point it was too late for them because the stolen files
were gonna get leaked regardless. However we were surprised and delighted to see
that not only did they relaunch a few sites less than a week later, but that
their “bigger, faster server that offers more security” carried over our
backdoors from their original box. This time we were not going to hesitate to
pull the trigger: in less than an hour we rooted their new server and defaced
all 70+ domains while their root user was still logged in and active.
We lol’d as we watched the news reports come in, quoting various Sheriffs who
denied that they were ever hacked, that any personal information was stolen,
that they did not store snitch info on their servers. Many lulz have been had as
we taunted the sheriffs by responding to their denials by tweeting teasers
exposing their SSNs, passwords, addresses, and private emails. We also took the
liberty to backdoor their online store and capture a few credit card numbers,
which were used to make involuntary donations to the ACLU, the EFF, the Bradley
Manning Support Network, and more. Despite active FBI investigations and their
additional security measures, they could not stop us from owning their servers,
stealing their identities, and dropping all their data. Two weeks later only a
few of the sites are up with limited functionality as we scared them into
removing any dynamic PHP scripts, forcing them to use static HTML content.
A recent DHS bulletin has called us “script kiddies” that lack “any capability
to inflict damage to critical infrastructure” yet we continue to get in and out
of any system we please, destroying and dropping dox on the mightiest of
government systems that are supposed to be protecting their sick nightmare of
“law and order”. GIVE UP. You are losing the cyberwar, and the attacks against
the governments, militaries, and corporations of the world will continue to
escalate.
Hackers, join us to make 2011 the year of leaks and revolutions.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
The booty contains:
[*] Over 300 mail accounts from 56 law enforcement domains
[*] Missouri Sheriff account dump (mosheriffs.com)
7000+ usernames, passwords, home addresses, phones and SSNs
[*] Online Police Training Academy files
PDFs, videos, HTML files
[*] “Report a Crime” snitch list compilation (60+ entries)
[*] Plesk plaintext server passwords (ftp/ssh, email, cpanel, protected dirs)
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Not alot – good skills but marginal data. Try the LAPD they once held the data for numerous shadowy national endeavours.
how do you contact “Anonymous”, if you need something done, or want to join?
You can’t. Anonymous is not your personal army. They do not take orders.
As to joining, you become anonymous simply by deciding to.
Hi Abby! HOw’s H’wood?
Hey Frank! It’s hot!
Missing all you guys and OB!
Hey Abby! Long time no see
‘Anonymous’ I like it…..do you have a fan page; i would love to follow it
here …
here ‘Anonymous’ I like it…..do you have a fan page; i would love to follow it