Hacktivist collective Anonymous has leaked information about police, army and government officials as well as defacing multiple media websites in support of those protesting against the government of Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan.

People protesting against corruption and poverty in Pakistan have been assisted by the hacktivist group Anonymous who launched the Operation Pakistan campaign at the weekend, to coincide with a march on parliament and the prime minister's residence in the capital, Islamabad - where three people were killed and hundreds injured by a police counter-attack.

Launching the campaign, Anonymous said: "We will initiate the process of removing every vestige of the Pakistan government from the Internet and shutting down their communications network."

Greetings Government of Pakistan. We are Anonymous. And we are about to become your worst nightmare. | #OpPakistan #Anonymous #OhHellNo — Operation Pakistan (@AnonOpPakistan) August 31, 2014

The campaign in Pakistan follows a similar campaign against the Israeli government following the recent crisis in Gaza.

Leaks

While most of the attacks take the form of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against government websites, knocking them offline for the period of time, the group has also managed to breach the security of some websites and steal information about government officials.

The ASOR Hack Team on Sunday release what they claim is banking information related to the Pakistan government

A promise made is a debt unpaid. So, here it is! 23k of banking information from Pakistan Govnt. Download: http://t.co/AWXAeP68er #AntiSec August 31, 2014

The Faisalabad Police Department website was hacked and private data of officials leaked online, including usernames, passwords and the names/CNICs/addresses/contact information of employees.

The hacktivists also claimed to have obtained private information about officials in the Pakistani army from three of the its websites. This information, posted on text-sharing website Pastebin, contains names, email addresses and passwords for officials in the Pakistani army.

So far the Pakistan government, army or police have commented on the validity of the information released.

Among the websites which have been knocked offline - some of which have been defaced - were those belonging to the Press Information Department, Pakistan Air Force, Punjab government and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

The hacktivists have also targeted the multiple media organisations including the state-owned Pakistan Television

As usual in campaigns of this nature, Anonymous has published what it calls a care package, a document which contains information on how to encrypt information, secure communications, carry out first aid and how to avoid tear gas.