Indonesian 'Anonymous' hackers deface scores of Australian websites in revenge over spying — RT News

Indonesian 'Anonymous' hackers deface scores of Australian websites in revenge over spying — RT News

Hackers claiming to be part of the ‘hacktivist’ collective Anonymous have responded to Edward Snowden’s latest revelations about the NSA using Australian embassies to spy in Asia – by defacing the websites of scores of small Australian businesses.

A group calling itself Anonymous Indonesia replaced the front pages of over 200 websites with the .au address and the message “Stop spying on Indonesia!,” along with a selection of images of varying offensiveness.

Among those caught in the diplomatic payback were sites such as brisbanetimberwindows.com.au, perthclairvoyant.com.au, and petprotector.net.au.

It is not clear whether the choice of sites - which do not appear to have an overt connection with espionage - was random or based on their technological susceptibility.

Anonymous is a decentralized collective, and almost anyone can operate under its banner, which guarantees media attention. The group, which pursues a broad selection of targets, both political and social.

Earlier this week, documents reportedly obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and passed along to Der Spiegel magazine in Germany revealed the existence of a program called STATEROOM, which used the diplomatic facilities of Washington’s closest partners, including Australia, to house American surveillance equipment.