Anonymous Hacks Justice Dept. Database

The hacktivist group Anonymous says it has stolen 1.76 GB of data from a United States Bureau of Justice Statistics server and posted it online for download.

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According to a posting on AnonNews.org, an independent news platform for Anonymous, the hacking collective was able to obtain internal e-mails and the "entire database dump."

Anonymous stated its reasoning behind the attack against the bureau, a unit of the Department of Justice, was "to spread information, to allow the people to be heard and to know the corruption in their government. We are releasing it to end the corruption that exists, and truly make those who are being oppressed free," the post reads.

Kara McCarthy, a Department of Justice spokesperson, confirmed in a statement that the department is looking into the unauthorized access to a website server operated by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. "The Bureau of Justice Statistics has remained operational throughout this time," the statement said. "The department's main website was not affected."

The Justice Department is continuing protection and defensive measures and "will refer any activity that is determined to be criminal in nature to law enforcement for investigation," McCarthy added.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics collect, analyzes, publishes and disseminates information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government.