The hacktivist group Anonymous has released close to 18GB worth of sensitive data from Turkey’s national police database, according to reports.
The information, which was taken from the Turkish General Directorate of Security (EGM), has purportedly been posted on file sharing sites available for free public download.
It is believed that the information was leaked in protest against what Anonymous sees as widespread corruption within the Turkish government.
A tweet that was posted on Sunday by the username @CthulhuSec stated: “Hey Turkey, I have something to show you tomorrow. See, if you fight your citizens, they will bite back. #standby.”
The following day, a link on the same Twitter profile appeared. It stated: “Enjoy responsibly.”
A statement on the website reads: “The material was taken from the EGM, which is the Turkey National Police.
“The source has had persistent access to various parts of the Turkish Government infrastructure for the past two years and in light of various government abuses in the past few months, has decided to take action against corruption by releasing this.”
The author adds that in its current form, the data that has been dumped online – 17.8 GB to be exact – is not so easy to read and requires “some knowledge of databases” to gain insight.
This isn’t the first time that Anonymous has targeted the Turkish government. In December 2015, the group took full responsibility for a number of cyberattacks on Turkey’s internet, forcing the nation to shut down thousands of websites.
The Turkish government has yet to confirm whether or not the data in question is authentic.
