BlackBerry Blog Hacked In BBM-Powered Riot Reveal Protest

The official RIM blog, Inside BlackBerry, has been hacked in retaliation for the company's announcement that it will cooperate with UK police to identify those using BBM to organize looting and violence in London, UK this week. The blog – which is currently offline – was unofficially updated by a group calling itself "TeaMp0isoN" to suggest that, should RIM release information on BlackBerry users, it would make public a database of employee information that includes names, addresses and phone numbers.

RIM had made the commitment to the UK police force after it was revealed that looters in London and elsewhere were using BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) to muster groups, avoid security services and brag about the items they had stolen and damage they had caused. London is currently on high alert, with around 16,000 police offices expected to be on the streets tonight to attempt to prevent further violence.

"We feel for those impacted by this weekend's riots in London. We have engaged with the authorities to assist in any way we can. As in all markets around the world Where BlackBerry is available, we cooperate with local telecommunications operators, law enforcement and regulatory officials. Similar to other technology providers in the UK we comply with The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act and co-operate fully with the Home Office and UK police forces" RIM statement

Unfortunately, RIM's stance has not made them friends among the hacking community, with the group responsible for the blog breach claiming that the police will use the data to arrest uninvolved BlackBerry users in an attempt to save face. At time of writing the BlackBerry Blog is still offline, though a cached version of the hacked page can be seen here and the text of the update is below.

"You Will _NOT_ assist the UK Police because if u do innocent members of the public who were at the wrong place at the wrong time and owned a blackberry will get charged for no reason at all, the Police are looking to arrest as many people as possible to save themselves from embarrassment.... if you do assist the police by giving them chat logs, gps locations, customer information & access to peoples BlackBerryMessengers you will regret it, we have access to your database which includes your employees information; e.g – Addresses, Names, Phone Numbers etc. – now if u assist the police, we _WILL_ make this information public and pass it onto rioters.... do you really want a bunch of angry youths on your employees doorsteps? Think about it.... and don't think that the police will protect your employees, the police can't protect themselves let alone protect others..... if you make the wrong choice your database will be made public, save yourself the embarrassment and make the right choice. don't be a puppet..

p.s – we do not condone in innocent people being attacked in these riots nor do we condone in small businesses being looted, but we are all for the rioters that are engaging in attacks on the police and government.... and before anyone says "the blackberry employees are innocent" no they are not! They are the ones that would be assisting the police" TeaMp0isoN_

[via PC Advisor]