Anonymous attack

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe with wife Grace Mugabe (Source: Reuters)On January 4, websites of the Tunisian government were taken offline by a group, which calls itself Anonymous.

It attacked sites perceived to be anti-WikiLeaks. On the same day, it targeted websites of the Zimbabwean government.

According to BBC, it was in retaliation after president’s wife Grace Mugabe sued a newspaper over its reporting of a cable released by WikiLeaks that claimed she made “tremendous profits” from diamond mines. The attacks also hit the website of president’s political party. The group said the attacks were to highlight recent riots over unemployment and net and press censorship.

Graham Cluley, Internet security researcher in London, said Anonymous encourages members to download a software. Once the requisite number of members possess the software, they bombard the sites with e-mails carrying the malicious ware. It selected its targets in an Internet chat forum on January 2.