Hacker group ‘Anonymous’ claims it broke into Ala. government websites, stole personal info

[Jake Kouns <jkouns () opensecurityfoundation org>]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/hacker-group-anonymous-claims-it-broke-into-ala-government-websites-stole-personal-info/2012/02/10/gIQA7Rpo4Q_story.html

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Computer hackers claiming to be from the loose-knit
group known as Anonymous say they have broken into several Alabama law
enforcement and government websites and have stolen the personal
information for more than 46,000 people.

In an online news release Friday, the group claimed to have taken
Social Security numbers, license plate numbers, phone numbers,
addresses and criminal records.

Mobile city spokeswoman Barbara Drummond said Utah authorities alerted
officials Thursday night that hackers may be targeting the city. She
told The Associated Press that the city shut down its computers to
avoid the attack and that the hackers did not gain access to Mobile’s
servers.

However, hackers did breach the website of the city webmaster, and
took data from a recent program offering amnesty to people with
outstanding warrants for municipal offenses.

Hackers claiming to be affiliated with Anonymous have launched a spate
of attacks on law enforcement websites in recent weeks, hitting such
cities as Salt Lake City, Boston, Syracuse, N.Y. and Greece. The
collective of activists, pranksters and hackers have also targeted
financial institutions such as Visa and MasterCard, as well as the
Church of Scientology.

The warrant amnesty information from Mobile had already been made
public by the city to encourage people to participate in the amnesty
program, Drummond said. She said city technicians are still trying to
determine whether some personal information required to log on to that
website may have been stolen.

The group says the attack was prompted by what it called Alabama’s
“racist legislation” targeting illegal immigrants.

“You complain about immigrants costing the state money, however, you
do not care about spending the same money to protect your own legal
citizens,” the news release said.

The group says it will not use the personal information to do damage.

“Because of the possible cost of lives and money to regular citizens,
we are deleting this data and are seeking to make it known that you
not only have shown zero regard for immigrants, but for the very
citizens that live in the great state of Alabama.”

Officials in other Alabama cities have said they are not aware of
being attacked.
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