Anonymous, a loosely affiliated group of Internet vigilantes, has claimed responsibility for various Internet attacks against organizations perceived as hostile to WikiLeaks. Today, the group sought to portray itself as more focused on symbolic protest rather than outright disruption. These claims come amid reports that the online payment site Moneybookers was taken offline by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack launched by Anonymous members.
In a statement released today, Anonymous organizers contended that they are not a group of hackers but a "gathering" of average Internet citizens.
"We do not want to steal your personal information or credit card numbers. We also do not seek to attack critical infrastructure of companies such as Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, or Amazon," the statement read.
Instead, the focus has been on attacking corporate websites or the online "public face" of companies seen as anti-WikiLeaks. The group described these actions as symbolic efforts designed to raise awareness of "underhanded methods" employed by specific companies in their dealings with WikiLeaks.
According to the release, some Anonymous members disclosed on Twitter their plans to attack Amazon.com. This was in response to the online retailer's decision to sell an e-book containing classified US State Department cables leaked by WikiLeaks over the past few weeks. Amazon.com had earlier removed WikiLeaks from its cloud servers for posting the leaked State Department cables.
Following reports that the attack on Amazon.com had apparently failed, Anonymous claimed it had never been launched. "Simply put, attacking a major online retailer when people are buying presents for their loved ones would be in bad taste," the statement said.
In the statement, Anonymous also acknowledged that it might have lacked the power to take down a well-funded site like Amazon.com.
The group's attempt to explain itself comes after a series of Anonymous-led DDoS attacks that slowed or stalled the corporate sites of MasterCard, Visa, PayPal, Swiss payment transaction firm PostFinance, and EveryDNS.
