Hackers Out US Police Officers To Avenge UK Arrest

Hacking groups Anonymous and Lulzsec have published stolen US law enforcement data as revenge for the arrest of Lulzsec’s alleged ‘spokesman’ Topiary here in the UK.

The huge 10 GB data dump, released on Saturday in the name of the AntiSec campaign, includes emails, passwords social security numbers, credit card numbers as well as messages from confidential informants from 10 local law enforcement agencies.

“We are doing this in solidarity with Topiary and the Anonymous PayPal LOIC (Low Orbit ion Cannon) defendants as well as all other political prisoners who are facing the gun of the crooked court system,” the AntiSec announcement said.

“We have no sympathy for any of the officers or informants who may be endangered by the release of their personal information.”

Thousands affected

The hackers claim the personal information of more than 7,000 officers, many from the Missouri Sheriff’s Association training website, was stolen during attacks in July.

The data was reportedly extracted from compromised servers at a company called Brooks-Jeffrey Marketing, which builds websites for sheriff’s agencies in the US.

Many of the affected agencies also had their websites attacked and defaced last week in an apparent precursor to the weekend’s leak.

Mounting arrests around the world

As the ambitions of the hacktivists and their offshoots have grown with attacks on websites such as the the CIA and US Senate, as well as data breaches at Sony and News international, so too has law enforcement’s determination to catch them.

Last week, Scotland Yard charged 18-year-old Jake Davis of the Shetland Isles, who the authorities believe to be Topiary, in connection with Lulzsec hacks and attacks on the Serious and Organised Crime Agency, the NHS and News International. He is currently on bail awaiting trial.

If he is Topiary, Davis is potentially the highest level arrest in a global crackdown on hacktivists that has seen arrests in the United States, Spain, Turkey, Britain and the Netherlands.

Another British teenager, Ryan Cleary, 19 and from Essex, is also on bail awaiting trial in connection with Lulzsec activities.

Lulzsec and Anonymous announced a partnership in June and the launch of a campaign dubbed ‘AntiSec’ aimed at harassing law enforcement and ‘the establishment’. In June, Lulzsec released stolen personal information of Arizona police officers, which was later confirmed to be genuine.

Meanwhile, the apparent leader of Lulzsec, Sabu, has been tweeting from the Defcon security conference and challenging law enforcement to come and find him.