Thousands of Whistle Blowers Vulnerable After Anonymous Hacks SAPS 132
First time accepted submitter fezzzz writes "Anonymous performed a data dump of hundreds of whistle blowers' private details in an attempt to show their unhappiness with the SAPS (South African Police Service) for the Marikana shooting. In so doing, the identities of nearly 16,000 South Africans who lodged a complaint with police on their website, provided tip-offs, or reported crimes are now publicly available."
Reader krunster also submitted a slightly more in depth article on the breach.
Out of character... (Score:5, Interesting)
Wait what?!? (Score:5, Interesting)
Hackers ... This, they said was “for the 34 miners killed during clashes with police in Marikana on August 16 2012”.
So to protest the miners being killed by police, the hackers hack in, steal the information of other folks who had problems with police and then release it thus exposing those same people to reprisals?
What a bunch of fuck tards!
My comment about SAPS is no better. In short, they come across as brutish, stupid thugs. They are not police, just a gang with fancy uniforms.
Re:Out of character... (Score:4, Interesting)
Whoever said anything about helping the little guy? Anonymous is against the established legal system and for anybody who is against it, including terrorists (some of Anonymous's most high-profile actions recently have been lead by Hamas members, and core Anonymous members are not complaining). Dumping the names of people who cooperate with police to encourage criminal retaliation against them would be completely within Anonymous's character.
Mostly they're about exercising power to harm someone else because it makes them feel good, and making up a justification later.
Re:Seems counter-intuitive (Score:5, Interesting)
You don't know how right you are. This is REMARKABLY stupid and dangerous. The countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are developing and with development comes all the growing pains, not least of which is very very corrupt police. Police in South Africa and elsewhere on this continent can be very vindictive and outright murderous when upset about people disrespecting their authority. A few months ago a teenager from Mozambique was dragged to death behind a South African police car because the police who "randomly" stopped him felt disrespected. If the people on these lists know about this hack and their names being made public there is a very real and justified fear they now permanently live in. If they don't know about this hack (a bit more likely in a developing country with a not-so-exposed-to-the-internet underclass) they may be blissfully unaware of the danger they are in but that does not change the its depth.
Whoever released this info has very real blood on their hands. I don't give a damn about the title "Anonymous", the script kiddies who released this info are accessories to the horrible vindictive violence that will assuredly come, and the potential of the loss of life for many of the names released.
The stupidity of this move cannot be overstated. Be ashamed of yourselves "Anonymous". Be ashamed for your lack of disciplining your own.
Re:Out of character... (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, they aren't even an organization. Who is the head? Who decides what will and won't be done?
It seems to me that 'Anonymous' will eventually become synonymous with the term 'hacker' as the popular press uses it.