PHOENIX (AP) - A group that boasts of successfully hacking Sony and the CIA web page in recent months claimed Thursday to have hacked into the computer files of an Arizona law enforcement agency.
The Lulz Security hacking collective said on its web site that it was releasing “hundreds of private intelligence bulletins, training manuals, personal email correspondence, names, phone numbers, addresses and passwords belonging to Arizona law enforcement.”
The cyber attackers said they were specifically targeting the Arizona Department of Public Safety because of the state’s tough immigration enforcement law known as SB1070 “and the racial profiling anti-immigrant police state that is Arizona.”
Several DPS officers contacted by The Associated Press said they were inundated with calls Thursday evening and most were trying to get their phone number immediately changed.
The LulzSec group also said it planned to release “more classified documents and embarrassing personal details of military and law enforcement” every week but it was unclear whether other Arizona agencies were targeted.
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office was taking unspecified countermeasures to protect its computer system, officials said Thursday night.
Manuel Johnson, a spokesman for the FBI’s Phoenix division, said the agency was aware of the DPS’ situation but couldn’t comment on whether the FBI was investigating it.
DPS spokesman Steve Harrison confirmed that the agency’s computer system had been breached and was taking additional security safeguards that he wouldn’t disclose. The Arizona Republic reported that experts worked Thursday evening to close external access to DPS’ system.
However, that didn’t help several DPS officers who said either their home phone or cellphone were constantly ringing Thursday with many of the calls from strangers.
“Well, they got my cellphone. It’s not a good thing,” said officer Steven Loya, whose email and home address also were posted on the LulzSec site.
Loya said he was inundated with calls and emails and was in the process of getting his phone number changed.
DPS officer Daniel Scott also seemed poised to get a new number.
“I’ve never had it happen before. It’s getting real annoying,” Scott said. “I let the department know and hopefully they can figure it out. I might have to change my phone number. It’s all over the world.”
Scott said he first heard about the posting when a media outlet called him. After that, he called DPS headquarters in Phoenix.
Then, the calls started coming.
“One said he was student out of California or something like that, sounded like a teenager,” Scott said. “He was trying to help me out because he knows that all my stuff was posted on the Internet.”
Scott said none of the phone calls have been threatening _ “as of yet.”
LulzSec has taken credit for hacking into Sony Corp. _ where more than 100 million user accounts were compromised _ and defacing the PBS website as well as a cyber-attacking the CIA website and the U.S Senate computer system.
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Associated Press writers Terry Tang and Michelle Price contributed to this report.
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