Hackers affiliated with the Anonymous hacking group obtained more than 150 police officers' personal information from an old website for the West Virginia Chiefs of Police Association and posted it online.
William Roper, the association's president, told the Charleston Gazette the FBI is investigating. Roper is also the police chief of Ranson, W.Va.
Roper said a group called CabinCr3w hacked the website Monday and obtained the home addresses, home phone numbers and cellphone numbers of current and retired police chiefs. The association has a new website but members' information was stored on the old website's database.
"It's a tragedy someone was able to hack our website and obtain information that is useful to our members," Roper said.
In an online message by CabinCr3w addressed to "citizens of West Virginia," the hacking group says it has been monitoring cases of police brutality.
"We are here to remind you that we the taxpayers pay your exorbitant salaries, and those salaries of your officers," the message says. "Your job is to protect and serve, not brutalize the very people that pay your wages. Muzzle your dogs of war, or we will expose more of your sensative (sic) information."
Clarksburg, W.Va., Police Chief Marshall Goff was among those whose information was posted by the hackers.
"Like any of the public out there, we are at times victims also," Goff told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Goff, who said he's been contacted by the FBI about the incident, said he does not believe the hacker group accomplished anything because his information is already publicly accessible.
"My number is published in the book because I feel that as an official figure I need to be accessible to the public," he said.
Roper said CabinCr3W is affiliated with the hacking collective Anonymous and CabinCr3w's Twitter page is laced with references to the larger hacking group.
Last week, Anonymous hit the web with a slew of hacks, including releasing a recording of a conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard in which law enforcers discussed how to stop the hacking group.
Anonymous also claimed credit for defacing the Boston Police Department's website. And in Salt Lake City, officials said the personal information of confidential informants and tipsters had been compromised.
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Information from: The Charleston Gazette, http://www.wvgazette.com