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CYBER ATTACKS AGAINST SWEDEN

ANONYMOUS

Hacktivists threaten ‘biggest attack’ on Friday

After incapacitating the Swedish Riksbank website in a DDOS attack late on Wednesday night, a spokesperson claiming ties to hacktivist network Anonymous promised the “biggest” attack so far to take place on Friday.

Hacktivists threaten 'biggest attack' on Friday

“This Friday we will do the biggest thing we have ever done. We will not say what we will do yet,” an artificial sounding voice proclaimed in the clip, which claims ties to Anonymous and was broadcast on YouTube.

The latest threat comes after a slew of DDOS attacks carried out on Swedish agencies.

The National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) website was down on Tuesday evening, and after a threat from hacktivists, claiming to be part of the Anonymous network, the Swedish Riksbank site went down late on Wednesday evening.

Throughout Wednesday, many university sites around the world were also hacked, including Sweden’s Uppsala and Lund universities.

The Riksdag website and that of the Swedish government were also rendered inaccessible on Wednesday night.

According to the clips posted on YouTube, the attacks are said to be in retaliation against Monday’s raid by Swedish police on web hosts PRQ, previously hosting both The Pirate Bay and WikiLeaks.

However, according to one expert on IT crime, it is impossible to say whether the last three days’ attacks have actually been carried out by Anonymous, or if the alleged hacktivist network even exists:

“No one in the world knows what Anonymous is,” said Anders Ahlqvist of the National Police Board (Rikspolisstyrelsen) to daily Svenska Dagbladet (SvD).

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HACKING

Anonymous hackers target Spain sites in Catalonia protest

Hackers from the Anonymous collective claimed responsibility for bringing down government websites in Spain on Monday in a protest against Madrid's efforts to block Catalonia's separatist drive.

Anonymous hackers target Spain sites in Catalonia protest
A protester in a Guy Fawkes mask during last month's taxi strike, Barcelona. Photo: AFP

The sites, which included the official websites of the Constitutional Court and the economy and foreign ministries, went offline on Monday and could still not be accessed by early evening.

Anonymous, a loosely knit group that has attacked financial and government websites around the world, said it orchestrated the shutdowns.   

“Hey Spain, we see that you are still hurting the Catalan people. This is not a joke. We will hurt your government as well!,” the group wrote in a statement posted on its Twitter feed.

Anonymous temporarily blocked the Constitutional Court's website in October 2017 just as Spain's central government prepared to announce unprecedented measures to seize powers from Catalonia's regional government over its threat to break away from the rest of the country.

The hacker group originated in 2003, adopting the Guy Fawkes mask as its symbol. The mask is a stylised portrayal of an oversized smile, red cheeks and a wide moustache upturned at both ends.