This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
What took seven months of computer coding to build was destroyed in an afternoon by hackers, but the Salt Lake City Police Department's website is back up and running with a new look and a slew of new safeguards.
In a welcome video from Salt Lake City Police Chief Chris Burbank posted at http://www.slcpd.com, the chief said loss of the website for nearly three months didn't inhibit police services, but rather communication with city residents.
"What it did impact is the way that we interact with the public," Burbank said.
The department took their website offline Jan. 31, after the site's integrity was breached when it was hacked by a collective known as Anonymous.
Hackers obtained email addresses of registered users on the site, and citizen tips, including phone numbers and addresses.
Following the breach, police urged those who gave their email to the website to change their email passwords right away.
Since then, site security has been beefed up and is better equipped to stop a future hack and limit information that can be obtained, according to Salt Lake City Police spokeswoman Lara Jones.
"The steps we have taken to secure the website have resolved those issues," Jones said. "We feel it is secure."
The previous website was developed from scratch with 60,000 lines of computer coding. Since January, several people have been working full-time, in addition to their regular duties, to get the system up and running using a blogger template to speed the process of designing the site.
Crime tips submitted to the site are also now handled by a third-party vendor.
The hacker group claimed the attack on the website was a response to an anti-graffiti paraphernalia bill, which was never passed into law by the Utah Legislature.
Police intend to pursue criminal charges against the group or individuals involved in the hacking episode.
"It is ongoing, we are pursuing the hackers," Jones said.
In the meantime, the public and news media have used slcpd.blogspot.com and its social media to access police news.
Twitter: @CimCity