Japan Investigating Hacking Attack on Shinzo Abe’s Website

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/11/world/asia/japan-hacking-shinzo-abe-whale-hunting.html

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TOKYO — The Japanese authorities said they were investigating whether the hacking group Anonymous was behind a computer attack that shut down Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s personal website on Thursday.

A person claiming to be part of the group of activist hackers claimed responsibility for disrupting access to the site, saying in a message posted on Twitter that the attack was carried out in retaliation for Japan’s resumption of whale hunting in the Antarctic.

Hackers linked to Anonymous have targeted websites related to whale and dolphin hunting before. The group claimed responsibility last month for the shutdown of several government sites in Iceland, another nation that practices whaling.

Two Japanese whaling ships departed for the Antarctic last week, drawing condemnation from anti-whaling groups as well as governments that oppose the practice, including those of Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

Japan joined an international moratorium on commercial whaling three decades ago, but it continues to hunt whales under an exemption for scientific research. It reduced its program this year after a United Nations court ruled in 2014 that previous hunts had yielded little of scientific value, despite having killed close to 1,000 whales a year.

Japan’s goal for this year’s hunt is a little over 300 minke whales, but critics say that is still too many. The data that Japan says it is seeking — on the whales’ migratory patterns and reproductive habits, among other information — could be obtained by nonlethal means, they argue.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, Mr. Abe’s primary spokesman, said the police were investigating the hacking. “We have not determined for certain that it was an attack by Anonymous, but we have received reports that they claimed responsibility,” he said at a daily news briefing.