Hackers strike back
June 13, 2011
Spain's National Police said Monday that hackers had briefly blocked its website in an apparent retaliation for the arrest of three online activists from the Anonymous group.
Police said the attack happened around 2 a.m. local time on Sunday and that the site was blocked for at least several minutes, with some reports saying closer to an hour. However, police said the attack did not disrupt its computer operations.
The online vigilante group Anonymous claimed responsibility on the website Twitter, saying they had hacked the site in revenge for the police "arresting peaceful protesters."
'Hacktivist' arrests
Spanish police on Friday announced the arrest of three hackers from Anonymous for online attacks on the governments of Egypt, Libya and Iran, plus for targeting the online store of Sony PlayStation.
Anonymous are a so-called 'hacktivist' group that break into computers online to promote a political message.
The trio were accused of launching 'denial of service' (DDoS) attacks in which hackers break into computers worldwide and command them to link to a specific website, which overwhelm the site's servers and cause it to crash.
In a statement on their website, Anonymous claimed DDoS attacks were an act of "peaceful protest."
"The activity is no different to sitting peacefully in front of a shop denying entry. Just as is the case with traditional forms of protest," the statement read.
Author: Catherine Bolsover (AP/AFP)
Editor: Martin Kuebler