Hackers leak hundreds of thousands of documents from US police departments and FBI


Layla Mashkoor
  • English
  • Arabic

A large trove of internal files and documents from police departments across the US was released online by hackers last week.

The 269-gigabyte collection contains hundreds of thousands of police department files, including sensitive data.

It was published online on June 19, a holiday known as Juneteenth in the US, which commemorates the day when the last enslaved African Americans learnt they were free.

The hack, called “Blue Leaks”, was posted online by a group that calls itself Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets).

The group said the Blue Leaks comprised “ten years of data from over 200 police departments, fusion centres and other law-enforcement training and support resources.

"Among the hundreds of thousands of documents are police and FBI reports, bulletins, guides and more.”

The founder of the group, Emma Best, told Wired: "It's the largest published hack of American law enforcement agencies."

The group focuses on data leaks they believe are in the public interest.

“Our view is that data is a resource and a record,” their website reads. “We trust the public to be responsible with data and open it to them for the rigorous examination of it."

It appears the security breach occurred within fusion centres, which are data collection centres commonly used by police departments to co-ordinate between local and federal levels.

These centres collect and analyse various documents from law enforcement agencies.

Many fusion centres use a US-based web services company called Netsential.

A hack on Netsential appears to be behind the data leak, according to government documents obtained by KrebsOnSecurity, the security blog by US journalist Brian Krebs.

The National Fusion Centre Association confirmed the leak to KrebsOnSecurity and said the leaked documents run from August 1996 through to June 19 this year.

“Netsential confirmed that this compromise was likely the result of a threat actor who leveraged a compromised Netsential customer user account and the web platform’s upload feature to introduce malicious content, allowing for the exfiltration of other Netsential customer data.”

The hacked files were provided to DDoSecrets by another collective of hackers known as Anonymous, Ms Best told Wired.

Anonymous is more than a decade old, born on internet chat forums, but it has experienced an online resurgence this month during global protests against police brutality.

Anonymous has no formal structure or membership, but the group is well known for wearing Guy Fawkes face masks and orchestrating online hacks connected to political events and current affairs.

The self-described "hacktivist" group has taken credit for attacking the CIA, Sony, PayPal and government websites, protesting against matters ranging from WikiLeaks to whaling in Iceland.

Online activists have plunged into the enormous collection of leaked files, sharing their findings using the hashtag #blueleaks.

UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Date of birth September 19, 1990

Place of birth Bury, United Kingdom

Age 26

Height 1.74 metres

Nationality England

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A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

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Fire and Fury
By Michael Wolff,
Henry Holt

11 cabbie-recommended restaurants and dishes to try in Abu Dhabi

Iqbal Restaurant behind Wendy’s on Hamdan Street for the chicken karahi (Dh14)

Pathemari in Navy Gate for prawn biryani (from Dh12 to Dh35)

Abu Al Nasar near Abu Dhabi Mall, for biryani (from Dh12 to Dh20)

Bonna Annee at Navy Gate for Ethiopian food (the Bonna Annee special costs Dh42 and comes with a mix of six house stews – key wet, minchet abesh, kekel, meser be sega, tibs fir fir and shiro).

Al Habasha in Tanker Mai for Ethiopian food (tibs, a hearty stew with meat, is a popular dish; here it costs Dh36.75 for lamb and beef versions)

Himalayan Restaurant in Mussaffa for Nepalese (the momos and chowmein noodles are best-selling items, and go for between Dh14 and Dh20)

Makalu in Mussaffa for Nepalese (get the chicken curry or chicken fry for Dh11)

Al Shaheen Cafeteria near Guardian Towers for a quick morning bite, especially the egg sandwich in paratha (Dh3.50)

Pinky Food Restaurant in Tanker Mai for tilapia

Tasty Zone for Nepalese-style noodles (Dh15)

Ibrahimi for Pakistani food (a quarter chicken tikka with roti costs Dh16)

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Sector: Water technology 
 
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday. 

Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow. 

She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.

A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.

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Full list of Emmy 2020 nominations

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OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES

Little Fires Everywhere
Mrs. America
Unbelievable
Unorthodox
Watchmen

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Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dead to Me
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