On Friday, Feb. 10, Anonymous posted a press release claiming to have the full names, Social Security numbers, license tag numbers, dates of birth and other sensitive information of those Alabamans. The group posted online a heavily redacted list of 500 persons’ personal information.
“We mean no harm by releasing this redacted information. This data was not securely segregated from the Internet, nor was it properly encrypted,” the announcement from Anonymous said.
The three Anonymous members claiming responsibility for the hacking of Alabama’s data cited the state’s “racist” immigration policy as their motivation for exploring the state’s servers.
The group claimed to have accessed the sensitive information through computers belonging to the Mobile Police Department.
“This is an ongoing investigation by the Alabama Bureau of Investigation and any further comment would be premature at this time,” said Alabama Department of Homeland Security Director Spencer Collier.
Anonymous, a loosely-knit group, also has hacked online material from high-profile organizations such as Sony and the U.S. Department of Justice. The CIA and Mexican government reportedly also were targeted by Anonymous late last week.
