The hacktivist group Anonymous has released 3GB of sensitive data from various Texas law enforcement agencies in an effort titled Texas Takedown Thursday. The attacks are in retaliation for the arrests of several alleged members of Anonymous as well as affiliate hacker groups.
The data in question is a combination of work-related and private emails between police officers, some involving sexist and racist comments. The fourth major leak in the group's "Chinga La Migra" campaign also contains other confidential data such as passwords to government systems, security audits and training materials. The group claims to have had access to the Texas police systems for over a month. The primary targets were small rural departments that likely have lowered security measures in place.
Anonymous had released teaser data from the hack job over the past few weeks but the group decided to dump the entire lot of information online yesterday.
In addition to releasing the above mentioned sensitive material, the group defaced the Texas Police Chiefs Association website, which as of writing is listed as offline for maintenance and updates.
"In retaliation for the arrests of dozens of alleged Anonymous suspects, we opened fire on dozens of Texas police departments and stole boatloads of classified police documents and police chief emails across the state," the group wrote in an announcement.
In mid July the FBI raided the homes of three alleged Anonymous hackers in New York. Later that month it was reported that Lulz Security member Jake "Topiary" Davis had been arrested in Britain and accused of being involved in several high profile cyber attacks.
Late last month another suspected Anonymous member was charged for his involvement with the group.