AntiSec dumps Monsanto data on the Web

by Dara Kerr

March 1, 2012 7:59 PM PST

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Hackers affiliated with Anonymous go after the biotech giant, stating, "Your continued attack on the worlds food supply...has earned you our full attention."

(Credit: Screenshot by CNET)

Anonymous continued its ongoing attack on agricultural biotech giant Monsanto today by publishing an outdated database of the company's material. This is the newest in a barrage of strikes from hackers aligned with Anonymous who operate under the "AntiSec" banner.

In a statement posted with the database on a Pastebin site, the hacktivist group wrote it was aware that exposing the database would not do much harm to Monsanto but warned it would continue to target the company for what it sees as wrong.

"Your continued attack on the worlds food supply, as well as the health of those who eat it, has earned you our full attention," wrote AntiSec. "Your crimes against humanity are too many to name on one page."

Anonymous' battle with Monsanto began last July when the hackers disrupted the company's Web site and then released data on about 2,500 individuals involved in the agriculture industry. According to Monsanto, 10 percent of this information was related to current and former Monsanto employees.

Monsanto was one of seven companies that supplied the U.S. military with Agent Orange during the Vietnam War and for a while made bovine growth hormones. Now it focuses on making genetically engineered seeds and pesticides.

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AntiSec says the reason for the attacks is to protest the company's lawsuits against organic dairy farmers for stating on labels that their products don't contain growth hormones.

"You have put over 9000 small-time farmers out of business by using your enormous legal team to bury them with your malicious patent lawsuits," AntiSec wrote in its statement today. "You have continually introduced harmful, even deadly products into our food supply without warning, without care, all for your own profit."

Besides going after Monsanto, AntiSec has also recently claimed responsibility for attacks on U.S. law enforcement agencies, Vanguard Defense Industries, and private prison companies. In these assaults, the hackers deface the companies' Web sites as well as release documents, e-mails, and other files.

via news.cnet.com