Police data leaked as cop confab kicks off

Hacking collective Anonymous says it has once again leaked sensitive law enforcement information, in time for the National Day of Action Against Police Brutality as well as the opening of the annual conference of The International Association of Chiefs of Police.

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Edward Moyer

Oct. 22, 2011 1:10 p.m. PT

3 min read

According to a report in VentureBeat, Anonymous posted a notice on Pastebin late Friday claiming it had leaked more than 600MB of information gained by hacking into Web sites associated with the International Chiefs of Police (IACP), the Boston Police Patrolmens' Association, and law enforcement agencies in Alabama's Birmingham and Jefferson counties. The notice cited by the blog no longer appears to be on Pastebin, but another release was posted today.

An ASCII graphic in the Pastebin release.

The leaked information includes internal documents, membership rosters, Social Security numbers, addresses, passwords, and other data, Anonymous says in today's release. The group, and other hackers involved in its Antisec movement, said that in addition to being a statement of support for the police brutality protest and a jab at the IACP's conference kickoff (both events happen today), the leak and associated Web site defacements were performed in solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street protests currently taking place in New York, Boston, and elsewhere.

"The IACP thought they could hold their 2011 annual conference in Chicago unfettered by the clutches of insurrection," today's notice reads. "They must not have known their conference starts on the Day of Action Against Police Brutality. They must not have known that all over the world people are in the streets demonstrating discontent with capitalism and the state. They also had no idea that for the past few months black hat hackers have been owning their Web sites and databases. They should have expected us."

Of course, it's not the first time Anonymous has leaked such information. In June, the collective released data pertaining to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, a move that led the department to express concern about the safety of its officers.

Anonymous was also involved in protests earlier this year against the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, a San Francisco area subway and rail network. BART police officers were responsible for two high-profile shooting deaths, and the system had also quashed wireless access in subway stations during a protest over one of the killings. As part of the protest, Anonymous defaced myBART, a Web-based rewards program for BART riders that, according to BART, also provides a way for the system "to support the venues, independent theaters, and community groups surrounding BART stations." Anonymous leaked some customer e-mail and street addresses, as well as some customer passwords and phone numbers.

In today's Pastebin document, the group said it had little concern for the safety of those whose information it had made available with this most recent leak.

"We are attacking the police because they are the vicious boot boys of the 1% whose role in society is to protect the interests and assets of the rich ruling class," the document says. "They are not part of the 99%--they are working class traitors who are paid to intimidate, harass, and repress political movements that would possibly stand a threat to the power structure of the 1%. We have no problem targeting police and releasing their information even if it puts them at risk because we want them to experience just a taste of the brutality and misery they serve us on an everyday basis."

The group said its latest actions were also meant as a show of support for those arrested and charged with being members of the collective. Arrests of people accused of being part of Anonymous or related group LulzSec have taken place around the world, including several rounds of apprehensions in the U.S., as well as detainments in the United Kingdom and Spain.