Arizona State Police Hit with Second Data Dump

The files released by hackers included names, addresses, phone numbers, passwords and Social Security numbers

Arizona State Police recently fell victim to a second embarrassing data dump that included information stolen from the personal e-mail accounts of 12 Arizona police officers. The stolen data, according to the hackers, includes names, addresses, phone numbers, passwords, Social Security numbers, online dating account info, voicemails, chat logs, internal police reports, and racist chain e-mails. Hackers also say they nabbed the personal data of Stephen Harrison, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety.

The Public Safety Department confirmed its officers were targets of the latest data dump, referring to the hackers as a "cyber-terrorism group." "Law enforcement agencies are working to identify the source of the cyberattack," the department said in a statement. Arizona's Counter Terrorism Information Center is also involved in the investigation.

Not in it for the Lulz

The second Arizona data dump was first announced on Twitter through an account associated with the hacker collective Anonymous. It also comes less than a week after the hacker group Lulz Security released an initial trove of Arizona police data.

Despite an association with Anonymous, the second data leak was released under the moniker AntiSec. That name was originally a call to arms from LulzSec asking hackers around the globe to "steal and leak any classified government information." But AntiSec appears to have transformed from a campaign to leak confidential data into a new offshoot of Anonymous that may include members of the now disbanded hacker group, LulzSec.

"The objective of #AntiSec is different [from LulzSec]," the group said in its first data dump Wednesday that purportedly includes data from Universal, Viacom, and the Brazilian and Zimbabwean governments. "It is our true belief that this movement has the capability to change the world ... we provide material that is primarily against corrupt governments (in our world this is all governments) and corrupt companies."

AntiSec said it has more data releases planned for the near future that are "guaranteed to bring smiles to the faces of all those who have hated the police."

Connect with Ian Paul ( @ianpaul ) and Today@PCWorld on Twitter for the latest tech news and analysis.

Tags twitterfirewallsonline security

Show Comments