Hackers have leaked the personal information of New York judge Katherine Bolan Forrest in protest over the case against Ross Ulbricht, the suspected proprietor of online narcotics ring Silk Road.
Ars Technica reported that the information, including Forrest’s social security number and home address, was leaked to an internet message board called The Hidden Wiki located on the “dark net,” an area an of the web only accessible with certain software such as the Tor browser.
A hacker known online as ServingJustice posted that Forrest was “ruining Ross Ulbricht’s life and chance for a fair trial” and used her rulings as a justification to perpetrate the leak. Earlier this month, the judge rejected Ulbricht’s defense allegation that an FBI cyber attack on Silk Road’s Icelandic hosting servers was conducted illegally.
“I hope some some drug cartel that lost money with the seizure of Silk Road will murder this lady and her entire family,” said ServingJustice shortly after making the information public. The hacker also threatened to release information on Forrest’s friends and family at a later date, stating, “I can also get more information on all of this lady’s relatives and maybe some of her close friends so expect more releases.
In addition to the information leak, ServingJustice encouraged members to make false police reports to the judge’s residence — a malicious and dangerous but unfortunately common prank known as “swatting.”
Despite the severity of the leak, the information remains available on The Hidden Wiki, although U.S. Marshals are reportedly in the process of addressing the situation. A censored version of the hacked data was released by DeepDotWeb.
