Anonymous takes down Egyptian Websites

Monday 19 December 2011

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DECEMBER 19TH, 2011–In what appears to be a massive and carefully orchestrated DDoS attack, a dozen Egyptian government websites have been taken down.

Sites ranging from the Presidential website to the bureau for Tourism have been hit. The hacktivist group Anonymous has taken credit for the attack on at least one Brazilian Operations page. The hackers claim the attacks are in response to the brutal treatment of protesters in the country.

The hashtags #Egypt #Solidarity #Anonymous #CabinCr3w were used repeatedly on twitter as the event was being reported live, followed by the familiar phrase, “Tango Down.” The phrase was used by hackers before after defacing the CIA’s website.

Footage was released yesterday that showed images of Egyptian military police firing lethal ammunition into crowds of people. Some officers chased down a woman, beating her repeatedly in the middle of the street.

Other images were released yesterday showing “Made in the USA” on teargas canisters. Several U.S. companies have received licenses from the State Department authorizing the sale of munitions to the Egyptian military. The State Department recently acknowledged that shipments of teargas had been sent to Egypt within the last two weeks. Many individuals on the Internet are calling for similar DDoS attacks against the U.S. Government. Whether or not that will happen, only Anonymous knows.

The Protesters in Egypt are demanding that the military regime that took control of the government after they ousted President Mubarak, hand the state over to the people so they can begin democratic elections. The General’s involved have refused to do so now, but said they would likely agree sometime in 2012. As of today, 14 protesters had been either shot or beaten to death. Hundreds of others were reported to have been wounded.