Hacker angered by police officer acquittal claims attack on state

Published 10:00 pm Tuesday, June 20, 2017

ST. PAUL (AP) — According to a press release, a hacker upset about last week’s acquittal of a Minnesota police officer who shot and killed a black motorist claims to have stolen hundreds of email addresses from a state database.

Minnesota’s Information Technology Services department confirmed a cyberattack Tuesday, but officials said they didn’t know what inspired the attack and they were still investigating.

The alleged hacker told Vice News he was motivated by last week’s acquittal of Officer Jeronimo Yanez in the July shooting death of 32-year-old Philando Castile.

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It wasn’t clear how damaging the hack might be. The hacker claimed to have obtained more than 1,400 email addresses and their passwords.

The state said it will share relevant information from its investigation with law enforcement.