India’s Tamil Nadu police are the latest victims of international “hacktivist” group Anonymous, joining the likes of Texas-based security firm Stratfor, the US Central Intelligence Agency and Japanese government websites, The Hindu reports.
Anonymous allegedly hacked confidential databases of the Tamil Nadu police and posted files on the group’s Twitter account “opindia_revenge”. The database exposed included complaints to the police, responses of law enforcement officials and private date references. The incident underlines the State government’s lax cyber security standards, according to The Hindu. It remains unclear whether the files are indeed property of the fifth largest state police force in India.
While Anonymous was associated with high profile cyber attacks on different groups as a form of protest, motivations behind the attacks on the Tamil Nadu police are still not clear. The group was also blamed in the attacks on several Japanese government websites after new anti-piracy laws were announced.