Hackers take over Boston Police Department website; message cites handling of Occupy Boston protest

By Martin Finucane and Colin A. Young, Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent

Boston police worked today to restore their website after it was hacked by a person or group who objected to the department’s handling of the Occupy Boston demonstration.

“It is unfortunate that someone would go to this extent to compromise BPDNews.com, a helpful and informative public safety resource utilized daily by community members seeking up-to-date news and information about important safety matters,” the department said in a statement.

The website, normally a bright, colorful page with an upbeat tone despite its daily drumbeat of crime information, was replaced by another site titled “antisec,” headlined, “ANONYMOUS HACKS BOSTON POLICE WEBSITE IN RETALIATION FOR POLICE BRUTALITY AT OWS.”

In red letters on a black background, the site also proclaimed there was “plenty more mayhem to deliver.”

“Do you remember a few months ago when #antisec attaked [sic] the Boston Police and released hundreds of passwords in retaliation for the brutality against Occupy Boston? They clearly ignored our warnings,” the message said. “So you get your kicks beating protesters? That’s OK; we get kicks defacing [...] your websites -- again.”

The message said the police site had fallen to the “swift merciless veangeance [sic] of the hive. Do you really want to step to this?”

The site also played a video by the rapper KRS-One, of the song, “Sound of Da Police,” which included anti-police lyrics such as, “Be a officer? You wicked overseer!” and “Policeman come, we bust him out the park.”

Boston police issued a statement this morning that said the department’s “skillful technical staff” was “focused on rectifying this issue.”

The site was down as of shortly after 11 a.m. By 5 p.m. today, however, typing in the Web address diverted the user to the department’s Facebook page. Boston police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said the hacked site was “not up for long” before the redirection to the Facebook page was implemented this afternoon.

Driscoll said claims made on the hacked site of brutality by Boston police were “nonsense.”

The statement issued by police said detectives were continuing to investigate “individuals engaging in this type of disruptive and criminal activity.”

“Anonymous” is the name used by a hacking collective that is an amorphous collection of Internet enthusiasts, pranksters, and activists whose targets have included the Church of Scientology, the music industry, and financial companies such as Visa and Master Card, the Associated Press reported.

The group and its various offshoots have focused their attention on law enforcement agencies, in general, and the FBI, in particular

Also today, Anonymyous published a roughly 15-minute-long recording of a conference call between the FBI and British cybercrime investigators that was apparently devoted to tracking and prosecuting members of the group, the AP reported.

The FBI said the information “was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained.”

“A criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible,” the bureau said.