The Tool Desk
Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →iTechGuides is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more
Short answer: CyberScoop’s June 1, 2020 report said the email addresses and passwords Anonymous presented as a new Minneapolis Police Department hack were apparently recycled from older breaches, not evidence of a substantiated new breach. The report also described a separate denial-of-service attack against Minnesota state-government websites; Anonymous did not claim responsibility for that incident.
What did Anonymous claim?
During protests after George Floyd was killed on May 25, 2020, Anonymous said it was retaliating against the Minneapolis Police Department by publishing email addresses and passwords allegedly taken from a police website. Jeff Stone’s CyberScoop report, published June 1, 2020, examined whether that material represented a fresh intrusion. Read the original CyberScoop report.
Was the data a new police-department breach?
According to the report, Troy Hunt, owner of Have I Been Pwned, found that the credentials had already appeared in earlier data breaches. The material therefore appeared to have been repackaged as a new release rather than obtained in a newly demonstrated compromise of the Minneapolis Police Department.
Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
CyberScoop attributed the following analysis to Hunt. The figures were reported in 2020 and are not an independent examination of the underlying dataset:
#1 Best Overall
| Measure | Reported result | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Unique email addresses | 689 | Hunt’s analysis as reported by CyberScoop |
| Addresses already listed in Have I Been Pwned | 659 of 689 | Hunt’s analysis as reported by CyberScoop |
| Average number of prior leaks per address | 5.5 | Hunt’s analysis as reported by CyberScoop |
The report said many of the addresses appeared to originate in LinkedIn’s 2012 breach. That history is consistent with recycled breach data, but it does not by itself establish how the list was assembled or who originally obtained every credential.
What did Troy Hunt say about the claim?
CyberScoop quoted Hunt warning readers not to let anger replace verification: “[A]nger shouldn’t mean throwing logic and reason out the window and I cannot think of a time when fact-checking has ever been more important than now, not just because of the Minneapolis situation, but because so much of what we see online simply can’t be trust.
” The article attributes his conclusion that “the alleged Minneapolis Police Department ‘breach’ is fake.” The wording above preserves the quotation as printed in the source.
Rank #2
Was Minnesota’s government cyberattack connected to Anonymous?
No connection was established in the report. It treated the credential release and a separate event as distinct:
- Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said a “very sophisticated denial of service attack was executed on all state computers” on a Saturday.
- State officials reportedly repelled the traffic surge within hours.
- CyberScoop said Anonymous did not claim credit for that attack.
A denial-of-service attack attempts to overwhelm services with traffic; it is technically different from publishing a list of previously exposed credentials. The report did not provide an independently verified traffic dataset or identify the attacker.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What can readers reliably conclude?
- The 2020 CyberScoop account characterized the Anonymous release as old breach material presented as new hacking evidence.
- Its numerical claims—659 of 689 addresses already in Have I Been Pwned and an average of 5.5 prior leaks—come from Hunt’s analysis as quoted by CyberScoop.
- The Minnesota state-government DDoS report was a separate incident, and Anonymous did not claim it.
- The episode illustrates why a breach announcement should be checked against established breach-notification data before it is amplified.
This is a historical account of events reported in 2020, not a statement about Anonymous’s current activity or the present security of Minneapolis or Minnesota systems.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
