In retaliation for the way in which the UK government has handled its pursuit of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the hacktivist group Anonymous lashed out at a number of websites.
A number of official sites were affected in the attacks, and Anonymous took to Twitter to claim responsibility, according to a report from
BBC News. The UK has been trying to extradite Assange since June, while he has been living in the Ecuadoran embassy in London. If the UK were to try to forcibly remove Assange from the embassy, it would violate the building's diplomatic status.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice told the news agency that the attacks took place, but were only temporary and exposed no sensitive data, the report said. The ministry also vowed to more closely monitor its various sites, and take measures to ensure these attacks do not happen again.
Ondrej Krehel, the chief information security officer for
Identity Theft 911, has a blog about the dangers hackers pose to organizations and consumers alike, and what both can do to better protect themselves in the future.
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