Hack Attacks Continue With Faux Obama Assassination Claims and Police Leaks – Computer Rental Biz Weighs In

In the computer rental business, we’re sure to screen all of our hardware when it comes back in – and before it goes back out – to our customers. That’s because we keep abreast of trending tech situations – like the abundance of hacking that’s been springing up – and we want our computers to be safe.

The issue of computer security is more intense than you might think. Consider Julian Assange – the founder of Wikileaks. He brought the issue to the forefront of the American consciousness when the vigilante hacker group Anonymous supported him by bringing down several major websites. That same group went on to perform other misdeeds – and have since been credited with bringing down Sony’s Playstation Network.

But Anonymous isn’t alone.

Another organization, LulzSec, which is deemed by the media as "Lulz Security" (but what I interpret as "Lulz a sec" – as in Laughing Out Loud a Second), has recently gained notoriety due to a rather public bust.

Busted or not, these groups aren’t going anywhere. The remnants of Anonymous and Lulzsec have banded together to hack into Apple. And the new group, "AntiSec," isn’t exactly being modest about it. They recently posted a link to an Apple server along with 26 different administrative user names and passwords. It seems that no one is safe. Even Apple, the bellwether favorite of the cool indie set, isn’t safe.

Neither is the government. There have been several coordinated hack attacks targeting North American political or security groups, and that trend doesn’t seem to be letting up. On July 4, Arizona’s police force came forward to admit been targeted for a third time by AntiSec.

Police officer names, social security numbers and other information were distributed publically – making me question, once again, the policies of these hacktivists.

According to The Victoria Advocate, "The cyber attackers calling themselves AntiSec said they were specifically targeting the department because of Arizona's immigration enforcement law ‘and the racial profiling anti-immigrant police state that is Arizona.’"

That’s great and all, but, it’s the people, not the police, who make the laws by which the "police state that is Arizona," abides. Those police officers, in turn, are sworn by duty to enforce those laws.

Don’t forget to factor in that those laws – no matter how unorthodox – exist for a reason.

[Editorial Note: It never ends. Hackers recently targeted Fox News network's Twitter account to make false claims of President Obama's death. Realz classy.]