The central bank of Greece has become the target of a cyber-attack on Tuesday by the hacking group calling themselves Anonymous, which disrupted its website, according to a Bank of Greece official on Wednesday.
“The attack lasted for a few minutes and was successfully tackled by the bank’s security systems. The only thing that was affected by the denial-of-service attack was our web site” said the bank official, who declined to be named.
Anonymous is one of the most well-known hacking groups today, originating in 2003 and using the Guy Fawkes mask as their symbol for online hacking activities. The mask itself is a stylized face with an oversized smile, red cheeks, and a wide moustache which is upturned at both ends.
“Olympus will fall. A few days ago we declared the revival of operation Icarus. Today we have continuously taken down the website of the Bank of Greece,“ the group says in a video that was posted on You Tube.
“This marks the start of a 30-day campaign against central bank sites across the world”.
It remains to be seen which other worldwide central banks will fall victim to Anonymous next, but their campaign is likely to result in several more high-profile attacks over the next couple of weeks.
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.