The hacker group Anonymous has been busy of late. Several days ago, its China-based division launched cyber attacks against hundreds of Chinese government websites that included defacing those sites with Anonymous' messages. This weekend, the group set its sights on the UK.
PCWorld.com reports that Anonymous took credit for denial of service attacks on the websites of three UK government agencies; the Home Office, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Justice. The attacks started late on Saturday but by the end of Sunday access to all those sites was restored.
Part of the reason for these latest moves is Anonymous' issue with a proposed UK law that, if passed, would allow the UK's intelligence agency GCHQ to monitor anyone's emails, website access, texts and phone calls in that country. The attacks were also serving as a protest against the extradition of two UK citizens to the US. One of them, Richard O’Dwyer, is the founder of a website called TVShack that's been accused of offering pirated content.
Anonymous is apparently not done with the UK government. The group's UK Twitter page has posted word that more denial of service attacks will be announced on Tuesday.
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