Cyber Incident Victim: Polícia Federal do Brasil
Date:
Jun 2014
Location:
Brazil
Summary
Anonymous hackers breached multiple Brazilian institutions, including the Federal Police, as part of #OpWorldCup protests against corruption and the FIFA World Cup. The group leaked internal data such as employee emails, hashed passwords, and personal information, while also compromising the police portal and releasing a screenshot of its internal system. Additional breaches affected government agencies, energy infrastructure, media outlets, and telecom providers, with stolen data including names, IP addresses, and contact details publicly disseminated alongside anti-corruption messages.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 3 motives | 2 techniques |
| Threat Actor | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 actor | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
In June 2014, during the FIFA World Cup hosted in Brazil, the hacktivist collective Anonymous executed a coordinated cyber campaign dubbed #OpWorldCup (#OpMundial2014, #FreeBrazil, #OpHackingCup), targeting multiple Brazilian government and corporate entities. The attacks commenced with a breach of Globo TV Brasil, where Anonymous leaked 167 employee records including full names, emails, and search engine host details through social engineering. Subsequent breaches impacted the Brazilian federal government, exposing names, emails, and hashed passwords of 450 employees. Tunisian hackers affiliated with the operation compromised Cemig Telecomunicações S.A., leaking over 1,000 customer and employee records while denouncing corruption and World Cup expenditures. The Regional Electoral Court of the Amazon suffered a breach exposing emails and encrypted passwords. Centrais Elétricas do Norte do Brasil S/A (Power Plants of Northern Brazil) had data on 3,400 users—including names, emails, and telephone numbers—exfiltrated. Anonymous also claimed unauthorized access to the Federal Police of Brazil’s official portal, releasing an internal screenshot as proof, though no specific data theft from this intrusion was detailed.
The campaign’s leaked datasets were publicly distributed via linked online repositories, accompanied by ideological messages condemning political corruption, misuse of public funds for World Cup infrastructure, and perceived neglect of social welfare programs. While Anonymous Brasil emphasized the Globo TV breach as a “social engineering” achievement, broader operational impacts included temporary disruption of São Paulo’s Military Police websites days prior. No verified containment measures, forensic findings, or organizational responses from the Federal Police or other entities were disclosed in available reporting. The incidents collectively demonstrated exposure of personally identifiable information (PII) across media, energy, telecommunications, electoral, and law enforcement sectors, with compromised authentication credentials suggesting potential secondary access risks. Operational coordination involved international participants, though attribution to specific subgroups or individuals remained unconfirmed.