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Mumsnet hack: Founder Justine Roberts targeted in 'swatting' attack and parenting website pushed temporarily offline | Mumsnet hack: Founder Justine Roberts targeted in 'swatting' attack and parenting website pushed temporarily offline |
(about 5 hours later) | |
An internet troll has targeted Mumsnet co-founder Justine Roberts in a 'swatting' attack that saw an armed police response team sent to her house. | An internet troll has targeted Mumsnet co-founder Justine Roberts in a 'swatting' attack that saw an armed police response team sent to her house. |
The parenting website was also targeted in a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, which involves a website being so inundated with access requests that its servers cannot cope and it temporarily goes offline. | |
A group calling themselves @DadSecurity is believed to be behind the attacks, although its motivation in attacking the popular parents' forum is unclear. | |
The Twitter account of @DadSecurity has been suspended, but according to Mumsnet it had claimed responsibility for the attacks, tweeting "RIP Mumsnet" and "Our DDoS attacks are keeping you offline". | The Twitter account of @DadSecurity has been suspended, but according to Mumsnet it had claimed responsibility for the attacks, tweeting "RIP Mumsnet" and "Our DDoS attacks are keeping you offline". |
The Twitter account was also supposedly used to send a message saying "prepare to be swatted by the best" to a Mumsnet user who engaged with @DadSecurity. | The Twitter account was also supposedly used to send a message saying "prepare to be swatted by the best" to a Mumsnet user who engaged with @DadSecurity. |
The tweet included an image of a SWAT team, Mumsnet said. | The tweet included an image of a SWAT team, Mumsnet said. |
Ms Roberts said an armed response team were called to her house (Getty) A 'swatting' attack involves a person making an emergency call reporting a crime at the victim's home, causing police to turn up. | |
Ms Roberts, writing in a post on Mumsnet, said an armed response team was called to her house after someone reported a gunman in the area. | |
The forum user who engaged with @DadSecurity was also the target of a swatting attack, Mumsnet said. | |
Mumsnet does not collect addresses, raising the question of how the attacker was able to target a user at their home. | Mumsnet does not collect addresses, raising the question of how the attacker was able to target a user at their home. |
Mumsnet also reported that the site had been hacked and advised its users to change their passwords. | |
The site says it keeps users' passwords encrypted, but speculated that the attacker might have set up a fake Mumsnet homepage to collect user information and passwords, and then use these to access the site. |