Hackers from the group called Anonymous have claimed responsibility for attacking five government websites in Iceland, in what is said to be a protest against whale hunting carried out by the country.
The government sites targeted by Anonymous include the official website of the Prime Minister, and those of the environment and interior ministries, which all went down on Friday and remained inaccessible until Saturday noon.
An anti-whaling video was posted on social media sites, in which activists asked people to hack websites linked to Iceland, in order to protest the country’s commercial whaling even though there’s an international ban in place.
A new Twitter account was setup for the campaign, which shows screenshots showing the downed sites. Those responsible said they belonged to the hacking group Anonymous. The Icelandic government has not commented on the hack.
Iceland is currently a member of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), which is an inter-governmental organisation that imposed a ban on all commercial whaling since 1986. The existing moratorium is still in place, but Iceland and Norway continue to flout the ban.
Iceland has been criticised for many years, including in the ’70s and ’80s when Greenpeace and activists from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society attempted to disrupt the annual hunts.
Iceland has historically relied on fishing and whaling as an important part of its economy. Iceland says the whales reduce the fish stocks that the country’s fisherman are hunting.
SOURCE: Reuters.
Larry Banks is a keen follower of technology and finance. He has worked for a variety of online publications, writing about a diverse range of topics including mobile networks, patents, and Internet video delivery technologies.