HOUSTON — The group known as Anonymous claims to have hacked into the email accounts of more than two dozen Texas law enforcement agencies or officials in retaliation for arrests of its supporters and what it sees as harassment of immigrants by authorities in the state.
The group appeared to briefly take over the website of the Texas Police Chiefs Association on Thursday, replacing its home page with one that listed police departments and officials whose email accounts Anonymous said had been hacked. The group posted a statement on the police website saying it was “attacking Texas law enforcement” because of arrests of its supporters and what the group sees as harassment of immigrants by authorities in the state.
Robert Mock, one of the individuals whose personal email account was apparently breached, said he had only been made aware of the possibility earlier Thursday.
“I’m upset, as anybody would be whose account was hacked into,” he said. “This wasn’t my work account. Got my private information out there. I don’t even know what’s out there.”
Anonymous listed Mock as being a lieutenant with the Houston police department, but Mock said he had left the department about four years ago. Mock said he still worked in law enforcement in the Houston area but declined to say where he was employed.
In addition to his cellphone and water bills, Anonymous also posted emails of jokes that were forwarded to Mock that made fun of Arabs and Muslims.
