<!-- google_ad_section_start(name=story_introduction,
weight=high) -->HACKERS have claimed attacks on the websites of
Visa, Mastercard and Sarah Palin in revenge for their stances on
whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. <!--
google_ad_section_end(name=story_introduction) -->
Organisers of the group "Anonymous" said thousands of hackers
had joined their effort to defend the site and its founder Julian
Assange, and vowed to extend their campaign to anyone with an
"anti-WikiLeaks agenda."
WikiLeaks said it had nothing to do with the hacking, which
mainly targeted financial institutions that had cut off funding for
the whistleblowing website.
The site of credit card giant Visa was hit this morning after by
members of the hackers group "Anonymous" and was still down two
hours later.
Visa.com went down as members of Anonymous launched a
coordinated cyber attack announced on their Twitter feed
Anon-Operation.
"Operation Payback. TARGET: WWW.VISA.COM :: FIRE FIRE FIRE!!!
WEAPONS," the message said.
She has described Mr Assange as “an anti-American operative with
blood on his hands” and asked “Why was he not pursued with the same
urgency we pursue al-Qa'ida and Taliban leaders?”
Mr Carroll said the Palin website went down for about six
minutes.
According to ABC News, besides attacking the Palin website, the
hackers also “disrupted” the personal credit card accounts of Ms
Palin and her husband, Todd.
“No wonder others are keeping silent about Assange's antics,”
ABC News quoted Ms Palin as saying in an email.
“This is what happens when you exercise the First Amendment and
speak against his sick, un-American espionage efforts.”
Mr Carroll said Anonymous members also briefly took down the
website of senator Joe Lieberman, who issued an early call for US
companies to withdraw their technical support from WikiLeaks, an
appeal which has been widely followed.
Credit card sales were disrupted yesterday when hackers disabled
the main mastercard.com site for about seven hours.
Mastercard initially denied that cardholders would be affected.
However it later released an automated technical notice warning of
a failure in its 3-D Securecode system, an authentication service
for online payments.
"Customers may still be experiencing intermittent connectivity
issues," the notice said. Mastercard said it was restoring full
service and cardholders' data was not at risk.
Securecode is used by many of the biggest online retailers
preparing for Christmas, including Amazon.co.uk.
"With the Secure system down many online retailers will not
accept payment from Mastercard," said Ian Cushion of Secure
Trading, an online transaction company. "It failed at about 9.30am.
I'd guess hundreds of customers were affected, at least."
Anonymous has also taken offline the websites of the Swedish
prosecutors' office, which wants to question Mr Assange, and
Postfinance, the Swiss bank that froze Mr Assange's account last
week. Each was swamped by the volume of queries.
An Anonymous statement released earlier today (Thursday) on
Twitter simply read: "We will fire at anyone or anything that tries
to censor WikiLeaks. The major s***storm has begun."
Mr Assange spent his first full day in a London prison after he
was refused bail yesterday. But Wikileaks is continuing its
publication of a wave of US diplomatic cables, enraging governments
around the world.
After WikiLeaks appealed for donations to be able to continue
its activities, Mastercard and Visa said they were suspending
payments to the site, sparking attempts to hack into the payment
services.
In an online chat with AFP, organisers of Anonymous said about
4000 hackers had thrown their weight behind the group's efforts in
response to online appeals.
"The current target is Mastercard.com, but anyone that has an
anti-Wikileaks agenda is within our scope of attack," they
said.
"We recruit through the internet, that means, everywhere:
imageboards, forums, Facebook, Twitter... you name it, we're using
it," they said, adding that members were drawn from "all over the
world."
WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson told AFP the hackers were
"not associated" with his organisation.
"We are not associated with them and this is a decision that
they are taking. It is part of a consumers' response, I gather," he
said.
In another twist to the cyber war, Icelandic firm DataCell said
it would sue Visa for blocking payments to WikiLeaks and accused
the credit card giant of bowing to political pressure.
AFP, The Times