Anonymous Hacks BART

Hacktivists retaliate for transit system's cell-phone block during protest
By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 15, 2011 2:22 AM CDT
Updated Aug 15, 2011 5:00 AM CDT
Anonymous Hacks BART
This screen shot taken from myBART.org shows a page from the website after it was hacked by the hacker's group Anonymous on yesterday.   (AP Photo/myBART.org)

Turns out the hacker group Anonymous wasn't willing to wait for this afternoon's protest to strike at the evil empire that is San Francisco public transit. Hackers hit a BART website yesterday, defacing the site and releasing the private information of more than 2,000 BART customers, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. "We are Anonymous, we are your citizens, we are the people, we do not tolerate oppression from any government agency," wrote the hackers. The action was payback for BART's decision last Thursday to turn off cell phone service at four stations to disrupt a planned anti-police protest on the transit service.

"Any 8-year-old could have done what we did," said the Anonymous message, adding: "None of the info, including the passwords, was encrypted." The attack only affected myBART.org, a site run by an outside vendor, not the official bart.gov site. But myBART contains names, addresses, and phone numbers of thousands of customers. "To be honest with you, I'd like to kick their ass," said a 61-year-old woman whose personal information was released by Anonymous. BART officials are considering blocking cell phone service again today during the planned protest. "We're going to take steps to make sure our customers are safe," said a spokesman. (More BART stories.)

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