Turkish police website hacked with password '123456'

Internet security phail: for a group of Turkish hackers, breaking into the Ankara Police Department's website and stealing secret data was as simple as 123...456.

 

Members of the "RedHack" group who brought down the Ankara Police Department's website said one of the passwords to secret police files was "123456."

 

"One of the passwords needed to access the secret documents was '123456.' The question is, how serious can a police force be if they save secret files with a password like '123456’?" a member of the group said in an interview, which was posted on RedHackers.org.

 

The group said it targeted the Ankara Police Department for being the center of applications such as "E-State" and "E-Police."

 

It also said it held a grudge against Ankara police for their alleged brutality against Tekel workers and their arbitrary blacklisting of citizens.

 

RedHackers.org said the hackers downloaded police files that contained tips from "informant" citizens.

 

"They encourage people to act as informants against their neighbors or classmates and then make their password '123456.' That is not only tragicomic but also thought invoking," the hacker said. 

 

"The Ankara police tried to defend themselves by saying that it was not a feat by the hackers but the simplicity of their passwords that lead to the hacking. I wonder what the police forces from around the world would say if they heard of this defense," the group member added. 

 

Cops using pirated software?

 

The RedHack member also claimed almost all of the software installed on Ankara Police Department's computers were pirated copies.

 

"Even the FTP [File Transfer Protocol] program they were using to share secret documents was pirated. The police need to open an investigation on itself as they are 'anti-piracy,'" the member said.

 

1 month to hack

 

The RedHack member said it took them one month to hack into the Ankara Police Department and then wandered around in the system for three weeks before bringing it down. 

 

"We could see emails being sent to police officers before they could receive them. We even helped out a couple of people who asked for technical assistance from the police's 'virtual bureau,'" the hacker said. 

 

Meanwhile, the group member said they will continue to publish information they obtained from the Ankara Police Department in the coming days. — TJD, GMA News