Cyber Incident Victim: Cincinnati Police Department
Date:
Feb 2016
Location:
United States of America
Summary
Members of the Anonymous-affiliated group Anon Verdict publicly leaked personal information of 52 Cincinnati Police Department officers and employees, including names, family member details, addresses, email and phone contacts, and social media profiles. The group cited alleged racial disparities in police conduct as motivation, referencing the fatal shooting of a black man during an arrest compared to the non-lethal apprehension of a white suspect in a similar weapon-related incident days earlier. Law enforcement officials confirmed the leaked data consisted solely of publicly accessible information and did not involve unauthorized system breaches. The leak was initially distributed via PasteBin before being removed, then reposted through another platform.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 1 motive | 3 techniques |
| Threat Actor | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 actor | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On February 22, 2016, members of Anon Verdict, a subgroup within the Anonymous hacker collective, publicly leaked personal information belonging to 52 officers and employees of the Cincinnati Police Department. The group cited the department's handling of Paul Gaston's death as motivation for the action. Gaston, a Black man, had been fatally shot by Cincinnati police officers on February 17 after crashing his pickup truck into a telephone pole and reportedly reaching for a pellet gun during arrest attempts. This incident gained national attention when contrasted with the February 16 arrest of Christopher Laugle, a white suspect who pointed a fake gun at officers but was apprehended peacefully, charged with menacing, and released on $2,000 bail. Anon Verdict first published the leaked data on PasteBin, which removed the content, before migrating it to Quick Leak.
The leaked dataset contained officers' full names, family member names, home addresses, email addresses, social media profile links, and phone numbers. Cincinnati Police Lieutenant Steve Saunders responded by stating all released information was publicly accessible through internet searches, confirming no departmental servers had been compromised. Media coverage amplified the incident following the New York Daily News' comparative analysis of the Gaston and Laugle cases. While two videos reportedly supported the police narrative regarding Gaston's shooting, the contrasting outcomes between the two suspects contributed to the operational environment preceding the data disclosure. The leak included no classified or non-public records according to official statements.