MasterCard’s website is currently inaccessible following what appears to be a WikiLeaks-inspired internet attack against it.
In what appears to be the latest salvo by hactivists, the mastercard.com website is thought to be suffering from a denial-of-service attack – where an internet site is bombarded with a large amount of traffic making it impossible for genuine visitors to access it.
A Twitter user called ibomhacktivist seems to be taking responsibility for the attack, and links the action to the WikiLeaks-inspired attack on MasterCard by the Anonymous group last year.
MasterCard.com DOWN!!!, thats what you get when you mess with @wikileaks @Anon_Central and the enter community of lulz loving individuals 😀
MasterCard angered the hacktivist community after it suspended the ability for WikiLeaks to accept payments via the firm. Police in the Netherlands arrested two teenagers for allegedly playing their part in the attacks last year.
WikiLeaks is a subject which tends to generate strong emotions – whether you’re in favour of what the organisation stands for, or against it.
Computer users would be wise, however, to remember that even if you feel WikiLeaks is being persecuted by the authorities or abandoned by online companies, denial-of-service attacks are still illegal.
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