Anonymous Hacks Boston Police Department Website Over December Occupy Eviction (UPDATED)

This post has been updated. Scroll down for the most recent information on Anonymous' February 3 series of attacks.

Notorious hacker collective Anonymous attacked and defaced the website of the Boston Police Department Friday, apparently in retaliation for a police raid on an Occupy Boston encampment in the city's Dewey Square on December 10.

For long stretches of the morning, the website, BPDNews.com, has loaded an Anonymous-designed web page called "Anti-Sec," also the name of the collective's months-long campaign against a number of governments and corporations.

The page includes a message from the collective, titled, "Anonymous hacks Boston Police website in retaliation for police brutality at OWS," as well as an embedded version of the KRS-One music video, "Sound of Da Police."

A screen grab of the website at 12 p.m. Friday:

The text of the message reads thus:

Do you remember a few months ago when #antisec attaked the Boston Police and released hundred of passwords in retaliation for the brutality against Occupy Boston? They clearly ignored our warnings, because not only did they raid the camp again and kicked protesters off of public parks, but they also sent undercover TSA agents to assualt and attempt to steal from some organizers. So you get your kicks beating protesters? That's OK; we get kicks defacing and rm'n your websites - again. BDNNews.com, the "Boston Poice Department Virtual Community" also fell to the swift merciless veangeance of the hive. Do you really want to step to this??

The portion of the letter about "undercover TSA agents" likely refers to an incident last month when a TSA air marshal accosted several members of Occupy Boston, and mugged one, just hours before the Dec. 10 Dewey Square eviction. (There's little to suggest that the air marshal was, in fact, in the encampment at the best of the TSA.)

The department released a statement acknowledging the attack and saying that its "skillful technical staff" was focused on restoring the website.

The statement reads:

It is unfortunate that someone would go to this extent to compromise BPDNews.com, a helpful and informative public safety resource utilized daily by community members seeking up-to-date news and information about important safety matters.

Anonymous also leaked audio this morning of what it claims to be a conference call between FBI investigators and British authorities, as part of an apparent day of protest dubbed #FuckFBIFriday on Twitter.

The hacker collective had previously attacked the Boston PD's website this past October, in the aftermath of mass arrests that garnered national attention.

UPDATE #1: Anonymous hackers also compromised the Salt Lake City Police Department's website on Friday, gaining access to "sensitive data, including citizen complaints about drug crimes, including phone numbers, addresses and other personal information," according to the Associated Press. The department claims that the hack was in retaliation for an anti-graffiti bill that died in the state's senate on Thursday.

Additionally, hackers associating with Anonymous attacked the website of Greece's justice ministry. That move was reportedly in protest against austerity measures that international lenders have demanded of the beleaguered country in return for much-needed financial assistance.

Anonymous also published the names and personal information of more than 700 police officers from across the state of Texas, according to WFAA-TV. The data was stolen from the Texas Police Association's website, reportedly in response to the news last week that a Wylie, TX, police officer was suspended from duty as part of a child pornography investigation.

UPDATE #2: Adding to a flurry of cyber-attacks Friday afternoon, Anonymous members have now reportedly hacked the website of the Washington law firm Puckett and Faraj, according to the AFP. The hackers claim they have published three gigabytes of private emails from the firm, many pertaining to Frank Wuterich, a U.S. marine (and Puckett and Faraj client) who faced a military court martial last month in connection with 2005's Haditha massacre.

UPDATE #3: Gawker's John Cook reports that in addition to leaking documents related to Puckett and Faraj's defense of Frank Wuterich, Anonymous also published a number of emails pertaining to separate cases the firm has handled. Those emails, Cook writes, include sensitive information about "people that Anonymous might normally be aligned with." That includes sexual assault victims whose names had previously been unreported.

Meanwhile, the Boston PD's web adress is now redirecting to the organization's Facebook page.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Dewey Square in Boston as Dewey Park.

 

Comments

[jo smith456]

08:29 PM on 02/07/2012

Power to the Hacktivists!!!!

[AskandThink]

03:38 PM on 02/06/2012

Boston home of the ORIGINAL “Tea Party”…..
is that why this feels just so perfectly natural?
; )

[vietnamvet1967]

09:33 AM on 02/05/2012

OWS the basement dwellers of the USA, None are even out looking for a job, How many are getting Government help, but most are most likelt DOPERS

[Rjchinook]

12:40 PM on 02/05/2012

Very broad statement to link a few bad apples as representatives of an entire movement. Which is a typical of racists who link a few bad apples as representatives of entire race!
So you're actually the dope.

[nick dc]

08:12 AM on 02/06/2012

Government help? Sunday I saw tweets from a church asking for help to feed multiple occupiers who had lost their only homes in a recent raid of tents. I brought 5 fruit & vegetable platters, granola bars, cookies & chocolate milk to the church Sunday morning. Just about no food was present until I stopped by unannounced. The church was merely providing shelter. These people are dependent on public assistance but not via government means.

Politician supporters conveniently get more help from the government. American "news" is full of opinion stories and little raw data. These people cannot afford to be "DOPERS".

[crazybobmt]

09:46 PM on 02/04/2012

one thing is sure ,anybody responding on huff will be checked out

[crazybobmt]

09:41 PM on 02/04/2012

i sure would love one of those masks they can retriece a persons genes from body oils and sweat and i hope they are disposing of the pc after each eppisode ..pc's are easily traced...rprocessors and madems are individually serial numbered

[Cat Turd]

09:18 PM on 02/04/2012

This is why I disassociated myself from anonymous. What happened to doing it for the lulz?

[n2zyk]

06:07 PM on 02/04/2012

Get a life people, theres a lot more eveil going on out there then a police website. try using what talent you have to do some good, not support the problem, instead of the cure.

[dmnlstr]

12:59 PM on 02/04/2012

"at the best of the TSA" dont you mean at the behest

[edenooch]

11:26 AM on 02/04/2012

i thought these nerds were gonna do some damage. all this graffiti and traffic jams are for losers

[cysocial]

10:52 AM on 02/04/2012

You know with all this illegal talent, you'd think they could go after the Koch brothers in some significant way. Old Roman saying, "get a dog to eat a dog."

[n2zyk]

06:07 PM on 02/04/2012

or the most corrupt administration in the nations history, THIS ONE!

[mrprogreso]

09:43 AM on 02/04/2012

It would be intereting to see a psychological profile of the group. I read an article on HP the other day that profiled 4 members. It did not leave me with a high regard for those members or, by extension, the group as a whole.

[Sammie55]

10:31 AM on 02/04/2012

I don't suspect they're much concerned with how you regard them.

[davdxstorm2012]

11:04 AM on 02/04/2012

and since we all know that HP would do anything wrong and only print totally fair and balanced reporting without any political agenda

[n2zyk]

06:09 PM on 02/04/2012

They fit the average juvenal attitude these days, "we want what we want and if we don't get it we'll make a scene." Sucks to be them.

[Tmus82]

03:28 PM on 02/04/2012

Thanks for your analysis now I know what to think.

[whlusko]

09:36 AM on 02/04/2012

FASCISM will not be tolerated in the US

[jsujet]

09:57 AM on 02/04/2012

Neither will anarchy. If it's so bad here, leave. We like it just fine. Loser.

[Angrykitteh]

10:05 AM on 02/04/2012

"We like it just fine."

All 1%-ers do.......

[Sammie55]

10:36 AM on 02/04/2012

Fear.... it sqeals like a little piggy

[jsujet]

10:00 AM on 02/04/2012

You don't know what Fascism even is!

[shifafa]

02:38 PM on 02/04/2012

Try this, sparky:

http://www.ellensplace.net/fascism.html

[whlusko]

09:34 AM on 02/04/2012

Knowledge is POWER........POWER IS KING

[whlusko]

09:32 AM on 02/04/2012

hack their accounts and start spending their money on booze and drugs to really add insult

[Theatrixnyc]

10:55 AM on 02/04/2012

It would be funnier if that scenario had a billionaire in the middle of a huge financial deal, that suddenly found his bank accounts were gone. Vanished.

"I'm sorry sir, let me give you this 800 Number and an address you can write to, to file your complaint..."

Or, we could just do the BIGGEST AUDITS of ALL TIME, for the banks that took the bailouts.

[Lady Saera]

04:10 PM on 02/04/2012

Now That would be funny, rather than the facilities of the 911 calls where people need help, instead the dealing with one of those opressing billionaires , and or the banks who truly are out of control.

[KarlaElisa]

09:33 PM on 02/05/2012

i do keep hoping they'll do something like this.

[whlusko]

09:30 AM on 02/04/2012

A blow against FASCISM .....another for A