Anonymous Vandalizes US Prison Contractors' Site

By RAPHAEL SATTER Associated Press

LONDON February 24, 2012

The website of an international prison contractor was defaced by hackers who on Friday replaced the company's home page with a hip-hop homage devoted to former death row inmate Mumia Abu Jamal.

Hackers allied to the loose-knit Anonymous movement claimed responsibility for vandalizing the site of Boca Raton, Florida-based GEO Group Inc., which manages some 60 custodial facilities in Europe, North America, Australia and South Africa.

Anonymous said in a statement posted to the stricken website that its hack was "part of our ongoing efforts to dismantle the prison industrial complex."

Geo Group Inc. spokesman Pablo Paez said in an email to The Associated Press that no information on its staff or operations was accessed.

He said: "Our public website is hosted by an external offsite third-party vendor — therefore no such information was compromised."

Earlier Friday, Anonymous claimed credit for defacing the website of a Dayton, Ohio-based chapter of Infragard, a public-private partnership for critical infrastructure protection sponsored by the FBI. The group's site was replaced by a video of Coolio's 1995 rap hit, "Gangsta's Paradise."

The FBI declined to comment on that attack.

Anonymous, an amorphous collection of activists and Internet mischief-makers, has increasingly focused its energy on military, police and security companies in recent months. Among its most spectacular coups: The interception of a conference call between FBI and London police cyber-investigators working to track them down.

At least one element within the group has promised weekly attacks on government-linked targets.