Turkish police secret files password '123456,' hackers reveal

Radikal

Image from www.kizilyildiz.org

Hackers from the "RedHack" group who brought down the Ankara Police Department's website and acquired secret information last week said one of the passwords of the secret police files was "123456."
 
A member of the socialist hacking group answered daily Radikal's questions via email in an exclusive interview by Serkan Ocak. "RedHack was founded in 1997 after deliberating on how to utilize our skills for the oppressed peoples," the member said.
 
The group member said the reason for targeting the Ankara Police Department was that it was the center of applications such as "E-State" and "E-Police," and the fact that it was "much more special and better protected" than other police department websites. 
 
"We also held a grudge against Ankara police for their brutality against Tekel workers and their arbitrary blacklisting of citizens," the hacker said. "Everyone can forget, but communists do not."
 
RedHack had downloaded police files that contained tips from "informant" citizens that told of suspicious activities by other citizens and published them on their website www.kizilhack.org, which is currently blocked by a court order to Internet users from Turkey. 
 
Password for secret files ‘123456’
 
"One of the passwords needed to access the secret documents was '123456,'" the RedHack member said. "The question is, how serious can a police force be if they save secret files with a password like '123456’?
 
"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 said. 

Police using pirated software

The RedHack member also said 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 and added they could prove the existence of pirated software on police computers as they took screen shots showing illegally obtained programs.
 
Provided online support on behalf of police
 
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 unidentified hacker said. 
 
Email passwords of ranking police officers obtained
 
The group will continue to publish information they obtained from the Ankara Police Department in the coming days, the group member said. 
 
"We have acquired email passwords of important police officers from all around Turkey. We will share them with the press when the time comes."
 
When asked if they would take part in Google Chrome's hacking competition with a $1 million prize, the group member said “no” and added it would be against their philosophy to take part in a system they were struggling against. 
 
The member said none of the group's members knew each other's sexes, let alone their names. "This could sound funny, but we have a by-law of our own, which forbids us to tell each other our names, locations or sexes."