LONDON – Cyber activists attacking organisations seen as foes of WikiLeaks briefly blocked a Dutch prosecution website yesterday after a 16-year-old boy suspected of involvement in the campaign was arrested in the country.
The campaigners also tried to block the website of online payment firm Moneybookers, but denied their attacks were intended to create business turmoil or badly disrupt online Christmas shopping.
Several companies have ended services to WikiLeaks after it published thousands of secret US diplomatic reports that have caused tension between Washington and several of its allies.
The website continued its release of US cables yesterday with the latest reports including a prediction by the US ambassador to Cairo that Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak would “inevitably” win 2011 polls and stay in office for life.
The Dutch prosecution service said activists targeted its website with “denial of service” attacks that slowed it down for several hours in the morning and briefly made it unavailable, adding that the incident was probably related to the boy’s arrest.
“We have been investigating this with international authorities and we are working together with the FBI,” Dutch prosecution service spokesman Wim de Bruin said, referring to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Yesterday a Rotterdam judge ordered the boy, who was arrested in The Hague on Thursday in connection with the cyber attacks, to spend the next 13 days in custody while the investigation continues, the prosecution service said.
The suspect had told investigators he participated in the attacks on the websites of MasterCard and Visa. He is being held at a juvenile prison.
The attack on Moneybookers appeared to have frozen the site for about two minutes at about 12.35 GMT but it subsequently came back online. The activists promised to continue their assault and spoke of MasterCard and Interpol as fresh targets.
Activists said Moneybookers had become a target because it had informed WikiLeaks in August it had closed its account.
Some participants in a chat room used by the so-called Operation Payback campaign voiced despair at what they saw as its lack of organisation and discipline.
“The whole thing is getting out of control, people are attacking local police websites and giving us a bad reputation. This was supposed to be to help WikiLeaks and not an excuse for kids to crash random websites,” one wrote.
The activists, who collectively call themselves Anonymous, said in a statement they were not hackers but rather “average internet citizens” whose actions were merely symbolic. – (Reuters)