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Mastercard 'hit by Anonymous Wikileaks revenge attacks' Anonymous Mastercard attack 'hits payments'
(about 1 hour later)
Internet hacktivists have claimed they brought down the Mastercard website. Web attacks on the Mastercard site have disrupted payments, the BBC has learnt.
The Anonymous group of hackers have also brought down the website of the Swedish prosecutors office which is pursuing founder Julian Assange. The site is among several targeted by the Anonymous group of hackers, who have pledged to pursue firms that have withdrawn services from Wikileaks.
But Mastercard said there was "no impact" on people's ability to use their cards for transactions. Mastercard, which stopped processing payments to the whistle-blowing site, said the attack had had "no impact" on people's ability to use their cards.
Anonymous has claimed to have hit several targets including the Swiss bank that closed Wikileaks' head Julian Assange's account. But the BBC has been contacted by a payment firm that said its customers had "a complete loss of service".
In particular, it said that an authentication service for online payments known as Mastercard's SecureCode, had been disrupted.
Other readers have also said that have had problems with online payments. The scale of the problems is still unclear.
Mastercard has not responded to the claims.
Earlier, Doyel Maitra of the firm, said: "Mastercard is experiencing heavy traffic on its external corporate website - Mastercard.com - but this remains accessible.
"We are working to restore normal speed of service. There is no impact whatsoever on Mastercard or Maestro cardholders' ability to use their cards for secure transactions."
False account
Anonymous, which claimed to have carried out the attack, is a loose-knit group of hacktivists, with links to the notorious message board 4chan.
It said that it has hit several targets, including the website of the prosecutors who are acting in a legal case against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
PayPal, which has stopped processing donations to Wikileaks, has also been targeted.PayPal, which has stopped processing donations to Wikileaks, has also been targeted.
The online payment firm has admitted that it stopped payments following a request from the US government. The firm originally said Wikileaks' account had violated its terms of services.
"State Department told us these were illegal activities. It was straightforward," PayPal's Osama Bedier told the Le Web conference in France. But href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11945875" >the online payment firm has since admitted that it stopped payments following a request from the US government.
PayPal had originally said Wikileaks' account had violated its terms of services. "On 27 November the State Department, the US government, basically wrote a letter saying that the Wikileaks activities were deemed illegal in the United States," PayPal's Osama Bedier told the Le Web conference in France.
"And as a result our policy group had to make the decision of suspending their account.
"It's honestly, just pretty straight forward from our perspective and there's not much more to it than that," he said.
Other firms that have distanced themselves from the site have also been hit in the recent spate of attacks including the Swiss bank, PostFinance, which closed the account of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
The bank said Mr Assange had provided false information when opening his account.
Swamp siteSwamp site
Anonymous is a loose-knit group of hacktivists, with links to the notorious message board 4chan. Security experts said the sites had been targeted by a so-called distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS), which swamp a site with so many page requests that it becomes overwhelmed and drops offline.
"We are glad to tell you that Mastercard is down and it's confirmed," the group tweeted on 7 December. Access to Mastercard's site is still intermittent.
Soon after, Mastercard said the site was still functioning.
"Mastercard is experiencing heavy traffic on its external corporate website - Mastercard.com - but this remains accessible," said Doyel Maitra of the firm.
"We are working to restore normal speed of service. There is no impact whatsoever on Mastercard or Maestro cardholders' ability to use their cards for secure transactions."
Security experts have said the site has been under a so-called distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS), which swamp a site with so many page requests that it becomes overwhelmed and drops offline.
Access to the website appears to be possible intermittently and it is still visible from some countries.
Noa Bar Yosef, a senior analyst at security firm Imperva said the attacks were "very focused".Noa Bar Yosef, a senior analyst at security firm Imperva said the attacks were "very focused".
"It is recruiting people from within their own network. They are actually asking supporters to download a piece of code, the DDoSing malware, and upon a wake-up call the computer engages in the denial of service," he said."It is recruiting people from within their own network. They are actually asking supporters to download a piece of code, the DDoSing malware, and upon a wake-up call the computer engages in the denial of service," he said.
'Wake-up call'
Earlier Anonymous confirmed other targets: "In response to the arrest of Julian Assange, Anonymous has taken down PostFinance.ch, who terminated Wikileaks bank account, using a distributed denial-of-service attack.
"Subsequently, Anonymous attacked http://www.aklagare.se, the Swedish Prosecutors office, also using a DDoS attack, and took the site down in under 10 seconds of beginning the attack."
Before the Mastercard attack, a member of Anonymous, who calls himself Coldblood, told the BBC that "multiple things" were being done to target companies that had stopped working with Wikileaks or which were perceived to have attacked the site.Before the Mastercard attack, a member of Anonymous, who calls himself Coldblood, told the BBC that "multiple things" were being done to target companies that had stopped working with Wikileaks or which were perceived to have attacked the site.
"Websites that are bowing down to government pressure have become targets," he said."Websites that are bowing down to government pressure have become targets," he said.
"As an organisation we have always taken a strong stance on censorship and freedom of expression on the internet and come out against those who seek to destroy it by any means.""As an organisation we have always taken a strong stance on censorship and freedom of expression on the internet and come out against those who seek to destroy it by any means."
"We feel that Wikileaks has become more than just about leaking of documents, it has become a war ground, the people vs. the government," he said."We feel that Wikileaks has become more than just about leaking of documents, it has become a war ground, the people vs. the government," he said.
Some of the early DDoS hits failed to take sites offline, although that was not the point of the attacks, according to Coldblood.Some of the early DDoS hits failed to take sites offline, although that was not the point of the attacks, according to Coldblood.
"The idea is not to wipe them off but to give the companies a wake-up call," he said. "Companies will notice the increase in traffic and an increase in traffic means increase in costs associated with running a website.""The idea is not to wipe them off but to give the companies a wake-up call," he said. "Companies will notice the increase in traffic and an increase in traffic means increase in costs associated with running a website."
DDoS attacks are illegal in many countries, including the UK.DDoS attacks are illegal in many countries, including the UK.
Coldblood admitted that such attacks "may hurt people trying to get to these sites" but said it was "the only effective way to tell these companies that us, the people, are displeased".Coldblood admitted that such attacks "may hurt people trying to get to these sites" but said it was "the only effective way to tell these companies that us, the people, are displeased".
Anonymous is also helping to create hundreds of mirror sites for Wikileaks, after its US domain name provider withdrew its services.Anonymous is also helping to create hundreds of mirror sites for Wikileaks, after its US domain name provider withdrew its services.
Ending contracts Coldblood said that the group was beginning to wind down the DDoS attacks so that it could concentrate on using "other methods which are more focused on supporting Wikileaks and making sure the Internet stays a free and open place".
The attacks are part of an ongoing infowar involving Wikileaks.
The whistle-blowing site has also been hit by a series of DDoS attacks, following the release of a quarter of a million US embassy cables.
It is unclear who is behind the attacks but it seems that Wikileaks is getting too hot to handle as many of the businesses that work with the site, distance themselves from it.
On 3 December, domain name provider EveryDNS cut off service, citing the denial-of-service attacks as the reason.
Amazon also ended an agreement to host the site, saying Wikileaks failed to adhere to its terms of service.
It said that Wikileaks was unable to ensure that it "wasn't putting innocent people in jeopardy" by leaking classified documents.
The Swiss bank, PostFinance has also closed the account of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
The bank said Mr Assange had provided false information when opening his account.