WikiLeaks 'revenge attacks' target Mastercard and Visa

Computer hackers, called "Anonymous" have taken it upon themselves to hack into businesses, personal accounts, and even popular websites that have censored or spoken out against WikiLeaks. Most prominently MaterCard, Visa, and PayPal, who previously have stated they will not support donations made to the anti-secrecy group, have all announced being hit by DoS attacks last night. This Anonymous group has also been credited with hacking onto Sarah Palin's personal website and tampering with her and her husbands personal credit cards and most recently has been targeting Amazon who withdrew server space WikiLeaks was using. Anonymous has threatened to attack anyone who tries to censor WikiLeaks. MasterCard has said some customers experienced complete loss of service, but they are working to restore service to their customers. Recently, Anonymous has threatened Twitter who has been accused of monitoring and deleting posts centering around WikiLeaks.

Obviously the attack occurred when Anonymous hit the different servers enough to shut down service on multiple servers for multiple customers. They also encouraged other pro WikiLeakers to down load a program that would temporarily take over their PCs in order to assist in the DOS attacks. Because the companies were not quick enough in responding to the attack, they were experiencing some serious server issues. Since the attacks, the companies have been able to begin restructuring and bringing service back to all customers.

Companies should first and foremost make sure that none of their customer's personal data was breached and that all information was kept safe. In the case that information was leaked, then customers need to be notified immediately and accounts should be monitored. Companies should also be more aware of the situation surrounding these events and realize that these hackers are not going to stop. By being more aware, the attacks may not be as problematic as they were this time, and could possibly even be stopped. As WikiLeaks becomes a bigger issue, companies who openly disagree, must realize they have put themselves in the line of fire from these hackers and seek to make sure all security measures are put into place. If the government is pressuring some companies to alter themselves, they should also be helping to ensure as much protection is granted to these companies as possible.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8190421/WikiLeaks-revenge-attacks-target-Mastercard-and-Visa.html