'Anonymous' Targets Private Prison System in Latest Hack

The international private prison corporation, GEO Group, Inc., was targeted today by the hacktivist group Anonymous.

Anonymous used the takeover of GEO's website to post a statement saying its hack was part of the group's "ongoing efforts to dismantle the prison industrial complex."

The Associated Press reports:

Earlier Friday, Anonymous claimed credit for defacing the website of a Dayton, Ohio-based chapter of Infragard, a public-private partnership for critical infrastructure protection sponsored by the FBI. The group's site was replaced by a video of Coolio's 1995 rap hit, "Gangsta's Paradise."

The FBI declined to comment on that attack.

Anonymous, an amorphous collection of activists and Internet mischief-makers, has increasingly focused its energy on military, police and security companies in recent months. Among its most spectacular coups: The interception of a conference call between FBI and Scotland Yard cyber-investigators working to track them down.

At least one element within the group has promised weekly attacks on government-linked targets.

And RT adds:

Various Twitter accounts affiliated with the loose-knit group confirmed the hack at around 12:30 pm EST on Friday. A statement made by the group has replaced the traditional homepage of TheGEOGroupInc.com and other sites associated with the prison management firm have been "wiped off the net," says the group. [...]

Additionally, the group has added an image of prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal and the audio of a song about him and the prison system to the company's homepage.

The attack, reads a statement from Anonymous, is retaliation for a corrupt system that immensely profits off of the detainment of Americans across the country. As the prison industrial complex booms, management companies such as GEO have been tied to controversies.

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