Announcing "Operation Anti-Security" (AntiSec), Anonymous offshoot Lulzsec called on hacking groups to open fire on any government or agency that crosses their path.
The motive for the latest attacks appears to be retaliation for recent law enforcement actions against members of Anonymous, with messages from the hackers calling for all charges against members to be dropped, according to US reports.
The websites targeted in the latest AntiSec attacks were hosted on the same server and included those of the shefiff's offices and local administrations in several counties.
The hackers claim to have stolen up to 10Gb of confidential data from the websites, including personal data of over 7,000 officers such as names, addresses, social security numbers, usernames and passwords.
An international investigation targeting Anonymous and LulzSec has already led to 16 arrests in the US, four in the Netherlands and nine arrests in the UK, including LulzSec members "Tflow" and "Topiary".
The most recent UK arrest was of Jake Davis, who has been released on bail after appearing at City of Westminster Magistrate's Court on Monday.
Davis, believed to be LulzSec's "Topiary", is to reappear in court on 30 August to face five charges related to computer hacking.
This story was first published by Computer Weekly