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This article was published on June 5, 2011

Anonymous reveals passwords for hundreds of Middle East government email accounts


Anonymous reveals passwords for hundreds of Middle East government email accounts

Anonymous has been hard at work. After hacking into Iran’s government servers and getting away with over 10,000 email messages, they have launched yet another attack, this time targeting Middle Eastern government officials, in what the collective calls support for the Arab revolutions.

As reported on Twitter, a document was released on PasteBin, a site that already bears the reputation as a hangout for hackers, revealing the log-in details of hundreds of government officials from Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco and Jordan.

The document is accompanied by the disclaimer, “These are probably not too reliable as they are from 3rd parties, but many do reuse old passwords.” A quick glance at some of these passwords show that might be very true as their concept of an airtight password often comes down to the use of 123456 or Qwerty.

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Anonymous has been a staunch supporter of the uprisings that have swept across the Middle East, particularly in light of the fact that Middle Eastern governments have consistently ordered Internet blackouts in the midst of the most violent crackdowns on protests. Anonymous has already vowed to seek retribution for the Syrian government’s most recent Internet blackout. With this, the third attack of its kind in a matter of days, we can only wait and see who Anonymous will target next.

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