Cyber activists associated with Anonymous have targeted a Pennsylvania-based security firm which routinely provides tear gas to law enforcement officials and armies around the globe.
The Combined Systems website was unceremoniously knocked offline as Anonymous apparently executed a hack and extract attack – lifting phone numbers, emails, passwords and other data from employees as well as clients.
“You shot and gassed protesters, running them off public parks in the US. Several dozen died because of your tear gas used in Egypt. Did you think we forgot? Why did you not expect us?” the group asked rhetorically in an online communiqué.
“You war profiteering all crazy, selling mad chemical weapons to militaries and cop shops around the world, thinking you will get away unscathed by the rising tides of insurrection? Think again… Combined Systems, lay down your arms: you just lost the game.”
As the Associated Press points out, both journalists and activists have reportedly found tear gas canisters with a “Combined Systems” label in Egypt’s Tahrir Square, where the military government has engaged in multiple crackdowns against demonstrators with deadly force.
Indeed, Amnesty International confirms that Combined Systems has delivered approximately 46 tons of ammunition – including chemical irritants and tear gas – to the Egyptian government.
As such, the human rights organization has asked the US government to stop the shipments, which it claims should be suspended “until there is certainty that tear gas and other munitions, weaponry or other equipment aren’t linked to bloodshed on Egyptian streets.”
