Saboteurs stole passwords and sensitive information on tipsters while hacking into the Web sites of several law enforcement agencies worldwide in attacks attributed to the collective known as Anonymous.
Breaches were reported this week in Greece, as well as Boston, Syracuse, New York, Salt Lake City in the US.
Hackers gained access to the Salt Lake City Police Department Web site that gathers citizen complaints about drug and other crimes, including telephone numbers, addresses and other personal data of informants, police said.
The Web site remained down on Friday as police worked to make it more secure.
Anonymous is a collection of Internet enthusiasts, pranksters and activists whose targets have included financial institutions such as Visa and MasterCard, the Church of Scientology and law enforcement agencies.
Following a spate of arrests across the world, the group and its various offshoots have focused their attention on law enforcement agencies in general and the FBI in particular.
The group also claimed responsibility for hacking the Web site of a Virginia law firm that represented a US Marine involved in the deaths of civilians in Iraq in 2005.
Anonymous also published a recording on the Internet on Friday of a telephone call between the FBI and Scotland Yard, gloating in a Twitter message: “The FBI might be curious how we’re able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now.”
FBI spokeswoman Jenny Shearer said in an e-mail that the agency was aware of the incidents, and an investigation was ongoing.
In Greece, the Greek Ministry of Justice took down its site on Friday after a video by activists claiming to be Greek and Cypriot members of Anonymous was displayed for at least two hours.
In Boston, a message posted on the police Web site before it was taken down on Friday said: “Anonymous hacks Boston Police Web site in retaliation for police brutality at OWS,” an apparent reference to the Occupy Wall Street movement.
The message also said: “There is plenty more mayhem to deliver.”
A police spokesman would not confirm whether Anonymous was responsible.
Another message on the department’s Web site said a hack several months ago unearthed hundreds of passwords that were released in retaliation for what was called brutality against Occupy Boston protesters.
In October, Boston police acknowledged that various Web sites used by members of the police department — including the Web site belonging to the police patrolmen’s association — had been hacked and possibly compromised. The department said it asked all police personnel to change their passwords on its network.
The Occupy movement in Boston set up camp in the city’s financial district for two months this fall. The first hack came about 10 days after Boston police arrested 141 Occupy demonstrators on Oct. 11.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
RSS