Universal Music, RIAA and DOJ websites attacked following Megaupload shutdown
The internet hacking collective known as ‘Anonymous’ claimed responsibility via their Twitter
The internet hacking collective known as ‘Anonymous’ claimed responsibility via their Twitter account for attacking the websites of the Department of Justice, Universal Music Group, the Recording Industry Association of America, and the Motion Picture Association of America.
“We are having website problems, but we’re not sure what it’s from,” a DOJ spokeswoman told CNNMoney.
The DOJ website glitches came soon after various Twitter accounts associated with Anonymous took aim at the agency. Anonymous’s main weapon to take down a website is known as a “distributed denial of service” (DDoS) attack, which directs a flood of traffic to a website and temporarily crashes it by overwhelming its servers. It doesn’t actually involve any hacking or security breaches.
“One thing is certain: EXPECT US! #Megaupload” read one tweet from AnonOps that went out mid-afternoon. One hour later, the same account tweeted a victory message: “Tango down!”
By Friday morning, all sites attacked by the ‘Anonymous’ collective were back online except Universal Music Group, as the company took the site down for “maintenance.”
