Hackers target police tip sites
SALT LAKE CITY -- Saboteurs stole passwords and sensitive information on tipsters while hacking into the websites of several law enforcement agencies worldwide in attacks attributed to the collective known as Anonymous.
Breaches were reported this week in Boston, Syracuse, N.Y., Salt Lake City and Greece.
Hackers gained access to the Salt Lake City police website that gathers complaints about drug and other crimes, including phone numbers, addresses and other personal data of informants, police said.
The website remained down 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 offshoots have focused their attention on law enforcement agencies in general and the FBI in particular.
The group also claimed responsibility for recently hacking the website of a Virginia law firm that represented a Marine involved in the deaths of civilians in Iraq in 2005.
Anonymous also published a recording on the Internet on Friday of a phone call between the FBI and Scotland Yard, gloating in a Twitter message that "the FBI might be curious how we're able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now."
In Greece, the Justice Ministry took down its site 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 website before it was taken down Friday said, "Anonymous hacks Boston Police website in retaliation for police brutality at OWS," an apparent reference to Occupy Wall Street. A police spokesman would not confirm that Anonymous was responsible.
Another message on the department's website said a hack several months ago unearthed hundreds of passwords that were released in retaliation for what was called brutality against Occupy Boston.
In October, Boston police acknowledged that various websites used by members of the police department -- including the website 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.
Occupy 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 Oct. 11. Police dismantled the camp Dec. 10, citing public health and safety concerns.
Salt Lake City authorities continued their probe and said criminal charges were being considered. Police said Anonymous took credit for the attack through local media but hadn't contacted police directly.
The hackers claim to have targeted the site in opposition to an anti-graffiti paraphernalia bill that eventually failed in the state Senate. The bill would have made it illegal to possess any instrument, tool or device with the intent of vandalizing an area with graffiti.
Salt Lake City police Detective Josh Ashdown said investigators believe the group is bluffing about the extent of the information it got from the website, and he noted authorities didn't think any of the details would be widely distributed. He said police don't have any reason to believe that those who reported crimes on the website are going to be targeted specifically.
