Arizona’s leaders, in choosing to take charge of the national dialogue on illegal immigration, provoked sophisticated enemies that it could not, at the time, foresee.
Hackers around the world have accepted the challenge of stealing and publishing any classified government documents they can find, and our state’s hard line on border issues has made it a tempting target in a war that transcends borders of any kind.
We should have seen this coming and prepared for it. Instead, we’ve been caught with our pants down — repeatedly.
It became clear late last week that we had become a victim of what state police are calling “cyberterrorism” when sensitive case files and the phone numbers and addresses of several officers were taken from a compromised email system. Then, midweek, more scandalous DPS data was dumped on websites that already are a haven for pirated material. Round three came Thursday night, when websites for police unions in our state were defaced and the hacker collective known as AntiSec leaked more documents that paint an unflattering picture of police professionalism.
Instead of going after the authors of Arizona’s controversial policies, these self-described anarchists struck the law enforcement personnel we have charged with enforcing them. Yet the statement they released hints that policymakers should be on their guard also: “We’re doing this not only because we are opposed to SB1070 and the racist Arizona police state, but because we want a world free from police, prisons and politicians altogether.”
DPS assures us that public safety has not been compromised, nor has its ability to conduct its mission to protect citizens in an effective and professional manner — and the organization is making it a priority to safeguard its employees, some of whose personal information was made public in the breach. That is entirely appropriate.
But it’s difficult to take such claims of vigilance seriously when they appear to be at the mercy of faceless attackers, and the hackers’ plunder casts the character of men and women in uniform into doubt.
It’s inexcusable to target public servants for any reason and with any weapon, even simple intimidation. But Arizona needs to use these incidents to take a long, hard look at its security measures, practices and the people it entrusts to uphold the law.
ribagi posted at 4:30 am on Sun, Jul 3, 2011.
Ownd
JoseArpaio posted at 5:43 am on Sun, Jul 3, 2011.
Good job on the pwning, boys.
ridiculous2010 posted at 7:56 am on Sun, Jul 3, 2011.
Interesting twist. However, why does a so-called free society need a government with so many secrets? It's strange how we now live in a time when political candidates and elected officials make claims for wanting greater transparency and openness yet it takes hackers and whistleblowers to expose a web of secrets and deceit.
What's worse is that instead of Americans asking questions regarding the volume, nature, and reason for these secrets the national/state spin machine wants us to be empathetic - or worse, criminalize people for exposing government abuse. This article is a simple example of that. There was a time in our nation when it was patriotic to stand up against wrong, government abuse, and injustice - today, it seems unpatriotic to take a stand in opposition of the state.
This whole things smells of irony really. Americans want to keep government whistleblowers and hackers at bay because it's illegal - yet where is that same commitment to justice when it comes to how our own government operates? We openly cheer and celebrate our policy of preemptive war, invading other countries on a hunch, spend trillions upon trillions of dollars doing it, all WITHOUT a legal decree authorizing it. I have always found the policy of allowing the government to routinely break the law yet not it's citizens far more authortarian than democratic. But, I guess that's what Americans want these days - less freedom and more totalitarianism.
In the spirit of July 4, 1776 I encourage everyone to read the Declaration of Independence. It may remind some of you why this country was created and why government secrets, regardless of how small or insignificant, isn't representative of a government by the people. In fact, terrorist work in shadows and keep secrets - a government in the right should be able to work in the openly and proudly.
Typical23 posted at 8:47 am on Sun, Jul 3, 2011.
If anything, the light shined upon the blatant racism and corruption within the DPS shows the need for LESS secrecy.
Anonymoose posted at 10:42 am on Sun, Jul 3, 2011.
"It’s inexcusable to target public servants for any reason.."
If law enforcement is unjustly attacking citizens or breaking the laws that they themselves created, they should be treated like criminals.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 2:01 pm on Sun, Jul 10, 2011.
I thought that, coming from La-La Land (that's Los Angeles for the newbies) and reading the LA Times ultra-left editorials that I had seen, read and heard every Liberal excuse in the world.
Well, folks, after reading this "Editorial "...I have to backtrack....this is a new one on me.
BLAMING....SB 1070....FOR THE CYBER-ATTACK ON THE ARIZONA DPS.
WHY DID THESE CYBER-TERRORIST GO AFTER THE PENTAGON THEN = WAS IT BECAUSE THE PENTAGON USED..."WHITE" COPYING PAPER INSTEAD OF .."BEIGE"...OR MAYBE BECAUSE THE PENTAGON CAFETERIA ONLY SERVED..."MEXICAN FOOD"...ONCE A WEEK.........YES, THAT'S THE REASON...I AM SO GLAD THAT THIS "EDITORIAL" SOLVED THAT QUESTION THAT THE C.I.A. AND F.B.I. HAVE BEEN PONDERING.....TOMORROW MORNING, I AM GOING TO CALL ....SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PANNETA...OR IS IT STILL GATES...WELL...WHOM EVER....I AM GOING TO TELL THEM THAT THEY CAN GET RID OF THEIR ..."FIREWALLS"...."NORTON SECURITY DOWNLOAD"...IF THEY WILL JUST..............START USING......CREAM OR BEIGE COPY PAPER AND PUT AN END TO THE ..."WHITE-ONLY" ..COPY PAPER DISCRIMINATION AT THE PENTAGON.