Anonymous Hackers Bring Down CIA Website

Last Updated on Sunday, 12 February 2012 12:06 Written by AP Sunday, 12 February 2012 11:49

CIA website was shut down on Feb. 10, 2012. Anonymous hacking group claims attack

Washington - Internet activists have claimed responsibility for an attack on the CIA’s website that disabled it for nine hours on Friday.

CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ARTICLE >>>

The Anonymous group targeted the personal details of more than 46,000 people in attacks on government websites including cia.gov.

It is the same group that intercepted a highly sensitive telephone conversation between Scotland Yard officers and the FBI and posted it online.

As well as targeting the CIA in Friday’s attack, the hackers broke into several Alabama law-enforcement websites, stealing criminal records, addresses and social security numbers to raise awareness of ‘racist legislation’ affecting illegal immigrants.

The group warned it would destroy the data, saying: ‘Because of the possible cost of lives and money to regular citizens, we are deleting this data and are seeking to make it known you not only have shown zero regard for immigrants, but for the very citizens that live in the great state of Alabama.’

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.

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