Anonymous Hackers Protest Members Arrest
The hacking group Anonymous has now taken on San Francisco's BART system. Last week, Anonymous took down the Web sites of more than 70 law enforcement agencies. REUTERS

Hacker collective Anonymous has upped the stakes in its ongoing war with the world's law enforcement, releasing a new statement clarifying that it views any individual or group working with the police as a valid target.

Building on its recent assault on U.S. law enforcement, Anonymous posted a statement claiming: "We [Anonymous] have no sympathy for any of the officers or informants who may be endangered by the release of their personal information."

As well as the names and addresses of numerous law enforcement officers and employees, the data posted contained the personal information of a number of police informants, many of whom had requested their identities remain anonymous.

In its statement Anonymous went on to clarify that the attacks were done to "protest" the recent arrest of suspected Anonymous and LulzSec members. Despite happening in the UK, the arrest of Jake Davis, aka Topiary, was given particular emphasis.

The group commented on Davis' arrest: "We are doing this in solidarity with Topiary and the Anonymous PayPal LOIC defendants as well as all other political prisoners who are facing the gun of the crooked court system."

"We stand in support of all those who struggle against the injustices of the state and capitalism using whatever tactics are most effective, even if that means breaking their laws in order to expose their corruption," they added.

"You may bust a few of us, but we greatly outnumber you, and you can never stop us from continuing to destroy your systems and leak your data."

The news follows Anonymous initial statement following Davis arrest. In it the group reiterated its belief that its members were legitimate peaceful protesters, not dangerous cyber criminals.

The UK's Metropolitan Police force recently answered this claim with its own statement via Tweetdeck. In it the Met clarified that it would continue to arrest and charge any and all suspected Anonymous members it came across as cyber criminals.

Following the hacks Anonymous promised that the attacks on the world's law enforcement agencies would continue as long as the authorities continued to target Anonymous "protesters":

"For too long they have been using and abusing our personal information, spying on us, arresting us, beating us, and thinking that they can get away with oppressing us in secrecy. Well it's retribution time: we want them to experience just a taste of the kind of misery and suffering they inflict upon us on an everyday basis.

"GIVE UP. You [law enforcement] are losing the cyberwar, and the attacks against the governments, militaries, and corporations of the world will continue to escalate."

As well as the attacks on U.S. law enforcement, Anonymous also claimed responsibility for attacks on the Ecuadorian Police and Syrian Ministry of Defense.