The official website for St. Louis County, Missouri and the County Police that ran amok last night in the streets and neighborhoods of Ferguson, MO, appears to have crashed.
Sunday afternoon, the activist/hacker campaign Anonymous threatened to mount cyberwar on the County Police if they attacked peaceful protesters in Ferguson. No doubt members of Anonymous have seen the same shocking, unedited news video of last nights police attack in Ferguson. I am guessing that Anonymous is carrying out their threat:
If you abuse, harass - or harm in any way the protesters in Ferguson we will take every web based asset of your departments and governments off line. That is not a threat, it is a promise. If you attack the protesters, we will attack every server and computer you have. We will dox and release the personal information on every single member of the Ferguson Police Department, as well as any other jurisdiction that participates in the abuse. We will seize all your databases and E-Mail spools and dump them on the Internet. This is your only warning.
News outlets have already widely reported that Anonymous had successfully hacked the County to obtain the
audio excerpts released from the police dispatch system. The
St. Louis Post Dispatch is also confirming, this morning, that the county website is down for what officials call unknown reasons, in the aftermath of the Anonymous threat.
I conclude, therefore, that Anonymous has cyberattacked the St. Louis County police. The full extent to which this threat is carried out remains to be seen.
10:23 AM PT: The St. Louis County Police Chief just admitted during a press conference I am watching on MSNBC, live, that Anonymous took down their website.