Anonymous Resumes Anti-Government DDoS Attacks as Internet Access Returns in Egypt

As Internet connectivity was restored in Egypt, Anonymous announced that its distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against governmental websites also resumed.

Before Egyptian ISPs were ordered to cut Internet service to consumers last Thursday, Anonymous was engaged in DDoS attacks against www.moiegypt.gov.eg, the website of the Egyptian Ministry of Interior, and www.mcit.gov.eg, the Egyptian Ministry of Communications & Information Technology portal.

The notorious group of hacktivists, known for using illegal means to get its message across, was also distributing tools and manuals on how to avoid the Internet filters set up by the government to prevent citizens from reaching social media websites.

"Welcome back to the Internet, #Egypt. Well, except http://www.moiegypt.gov.eg -- you stay down," a tweet posted hours ago from one account associated with Anonymous read.

The group's members view DDoS attacks as the digital equivalent of traditional protesting methods like picketing factory fences or blocking crossroads.

Its campaigns are not meant to disrupt and cause damage, but to attract attention to a certain aspect the group wants the world to know about.

For example, following the ousting of WikiLeaks by companies like PayPal, Visa, MasterCard and others, Anonymous members launched DDoS attacks against the corporate websites or blogs of these organizations.

Even though the attacks did not cause any serious monetary loss for the companies and did not disrupt their critical operations, authorities in UK and US launched investigations into the incidents.

Five people, aged between 15 and 26 were arrested last weej in UK under the suspicion of participating in Anonymous DDoS attacks. Meanwhile, the FBI served over 40 search warrants across the country in a bid to gather evidence against Anonymous DDoSers.