WikiLeaks hacktivists downloading free 'spam attack' software

Wikileaks supporters are downloading increasing amounts of the spam-shooting software used to attack companies seen as hostile - a development that could challenge even internet giants such as PayPal and Amazon.com during the crucial Christmas shopping season.

US data security company Imperva says downloads of the attack program used to bombard websites with bogus requests for data have jumped to over 40,000, with thousands of new downloads reported overnight.

"It's definitely increasing," said Imperva web researcher Tal Be'ery.

The freely available software, dubbed "Low Orbit Ion Cannon," is a critical part of the campaign by "hacktivists" seeking to take revenge on sites they believe have betrayed WikiLeaks, which has outraged American officials by publishing hundreds of thousands of classified US diplomatic cables.

Users who download the software essentially volunteer their computers to be used as weapons that volley streams of electronic spam at targeted websites. The more computers, the better chances are of overwhelming the targeted website.

The cyberguerillas, who gather under the name Anonymous, have had mixed results.

Attacks directed at the main pages of Visa and MasterCard succeeded in making them inaccessible, in MasterCard's case for several hours.

Attacks on online payment company PayPal have periodically rendered a small part of its website inoperative.

But other planned attacks, on London-based Moneybookers.com or Amazon.com, have either fizzled out or been called off.

All five sites have severed their links to WikiLeaks recently, many citing suspected "terms of use" violations.

The moves angered WikiLeaks supporters and alarmed free speech advocates, many of whom claim that the companies are caving in to US pressure to muzzle the website.

WikiLeaks distanced itself from Anonymous, saying "we neither condemn nor applaud these attacks".

A press release under the Anonymous name today said the group - which it refers to as an "internet gathering" - wanted "to raise awareness about WikiLeaks and the underhanded methods employed by the above companies to impair WikiLeaks' ability to function."

Imperva said it had monitored Anonymous supporters boasting about bringing in huge numbers of extra computers to back the attacks - something it said might challenge Amazon.com at one of the retailer's busiest times of the year.

But Be'ery stressed the boasts were unconfirmed, and the Anonymous statement said its members did not want to alienate the public by causing online havoc over the holidays.

"Attacking a major online retailer when people are buying presents for their loved ones would be in bad taste," the press release said.

Dutch police said today they were investigating whether hackers were responsible for taking down the websites of police and prosecutors in the Netherlands after the arrest of a 16-year-old suspected cybercriminal.

In Australia, WikiLeaks supporters held rallies in Brisbane and Sydney today.

The US Department of Justice, meanwhile is considering whether to charge those behind the leaks under the espionage act or other laws, while US diplomats, deeply embarrassed by WikiLeaks' disclosures, have struggled to contain the fallout.

"The deplorable WikiLeaks disclosures put innocent lives at risk, and damage US national security interests," US Ambassador to London Louis Susman told The Guardian newspaper.

"There is nothing brave about sabotaging the peaceful relations between nations on which our common security depends," he added.

The US may soon be facing more than WikiLeaks as an opponent.

A former WikiLeaks spokesman plans to launch a rival website on Monday called Openleaks that will help anonymous sources deliver sensitive material to public attention.

Daniel Domscheit-Berg made the claim in a documentary by Swedish broadcaster SVT airing on Sunday.