In retaliation for the arrests of alleged hackers throughout the United States, LulzSec and Anonymous hacked the websites and databases of 70 law enforcement agencies in the United States earlier this week.

The two well-known hacking organizations released roughly ten gigabytes of data that they claimed was taken from these websites and databases, many of which had to be temporarily shut down.

The LulzSec claimed that among the items released were “hundreds of private email spools, password information, address and social security numbers, credit card numbers, snitch information, training files and more.”

LulzSec and Anonymous combined forces to form the AntiSec campaign, which specialized in anti-government hacking, drawing an investigation from the FBI.

The title was used in a statement released online concerning the nature of this most recent direct attack on dozens of law enforcement agencies.

“We hope that not only will dropping this info demonstrate the inherently corrupt nature of law enforcement using their own words, as well as result in possibly humiliation, firings, and possible charges against several officers, but that it will also disrupt and sabotage their ability to communicate and terrorize communities,” read the statement by AntiSec.

The FBI investigation of AntiSec has drawn the ire of Anonymous, who directly challenges the agency on an almost weekly basis with hacking attempts made against the FBI and associates.

One such attack was made against ManTech International Corporation—who entered into a nearly $100 million contract with the FBI as the agencies cyber security contractor—an attack that resulted in the release of nearly 400 megabytes of NATO reports, personnel files, and reports from the United States Army.

The attacks have been made in the wake of an unprecedented amount of arrests throughout the United States and European countries of alleged hackers with connections to LulzSec or Anonymous.

In July of this year a simultaneous federal raid in multiple states, including California, led to the arrest of 16 alleged members of Anonymous.This prompted the attack on ManTech made by Anonymous in July.

LulzSec was also directly targeted by law enforcement in Europe, including the arrest of 19-year-old Ryan Cleary in London, an alleged member of the group.

This was followed by a series of investigations and raids through Switzerland and Italy leading to the arrests of 15 more alleged members of LulzSec.

While both organizations have denied that any of the individuals arrested were associated with them in any way, they have nevertheless responded to such arrests with direct assaults on law enforcement agency databases.

This most recent string of attacks were directed entirely at U.S. law enforcement agencies, but with investigations and potential arrests in other countries, similar responses could become commonplace in this ongoing struggle.

This was followed by a series of investigations and raids through Switzerland and Italy leading to the arrests of 15 more alleged members of LulzSec.

While both organizations have denied that any of the individuals arrested were associated with them in any way, they have nevertheless responded to such arrests with direct assaults on law enforcement agency databases.

This most recent string of attacks were directed entirely at U.S. law enforcement agencies, but with investigations and potential arrests in other countries, similar responses could become commonplace in this ongoing struggle.