Hackers target Government websites

Hacking group Anonymous are believed to have been behind a cyber attack which shut down the justice and finance department’s websites in the early hours of yesterday morning.

The distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack was not an attempt to extract information from the website but instead aimed at halting access to the sites. Neither website is believed to have been damaged in the attack and both websites were back online within an hour.

A Twitter account in the name of Anonymous Sweden, claimed the attack was carried out in protest against planned internet piracy laws being formulated by the Government.

A second group, AnonOps, also tweeted that the justice website had been shut down and carried a link listing the phone numbers of every TD. Another account, YouAnonNews, also carried the link and the declaration.

Other Government websites, including the Blue Blindfold site which opposes human trafficking and the Freedom of Information site, were also subjected to DDoS attacks. Anonymous has denied it attacked these sites and condemned any action taken against them.

The Government believes legislation halting piracy is required due to a High Court judgement in 2010, which found Ireland in breach of EU regulations by failing to provide for court ordered blocking of rogue internet sites. An online petition against the legislation has attracted close to 30,000 signatures.

The Department of Justice said no damage was done in the attacks and that it would monitor the situation.

“There appears to be no damage done to the website, however a review is being conducted this morning. The situation continues to be monitored by the Department of Justice and the Department of Communication. The Government is aware of the potential threat of this type of cyber attack and the Department of Communications is co-ordinating a whole of Government response to this threat. The gardaí have been contacted,” said a statement.

Anonymous is a group of hackers who have hit headlines in recent years over cyber attacks it has carried out.

The group describes itself as an “internet gathering”.

Members often identify themselves in web videos by wearing the Guy Fawkes masks popularised by the graphic novel and film V for Vendetta. The group’s protests often take the form of disrupting websites and services.