AntiSec Hackers Get Revenge on Police by Releasing Law Enforcement Data

AntiSec, a group of online hackers, said it breached 10 gigabytes of sensitive data after gaining access to more than 70 U.S. law enforcement Web sites.

The hackers who claimed to have gotten emails, credit card information among other sensitive information, is said to be retaliating against the arrests of alleged members accused of hacking into the CIA, Britain's Serious Organized Crimes Agency, or SOCA, and Sony.

"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," the group said in an online post. "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."

AntiSec claimed its cyber-attack affected agencies in Alabama, Arkansas and Kansas to name a few.

"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 embarrass [sic], discredit and incriminate police officers across the US," the group wrote.

"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," it added. "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."

The Agence France-Presse reported that early this week, 18-year-old British man Jack Davis, believed to be a hacker who went by the online name "Topiary" was granted bail in a London court. He is suspected of being a spokesman for hacking groups Lulz Security (LulzSec) and Anonymous.

Davis was charged with hacking into websites, including that of Britain's SOCA, which was out of service for several hours on June 20 after apparently being targeted, according to AFP.

The news agency further reported that LulzSec has claimed responsibility for a 50-day rampage earlier this year against international businesses and government agencies, including the CIA, the U.S. Senate, and Sony.

Anonymous and LulzSec have denounced the arrests in the U.S. last month of 14 people suspected of taking part in an online attack on the PayPal website organized by Anonymous, the AFP reported.

The Republic reported that many of the law enforcement agencies had no immediate comment on the hackings, while others expressed confusion as to what information had been accessed.

In Mississippi, the Tunica County Sheriff's Office was aware that its website was down, but did not know much beyond that, said Lt. Persundra Jones, to The Republic.

"We don't know what's really going on," Jones said. "We have no idea."

But the hackers said they are laughing at sheriffs who have denied a hacking ever took place.

"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," the group posted. "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."

The hackers said despite active FBI investigations and additional security measures, no one could stop the group 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," the group said.