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Hacktivists Bring Down Brazilian Government Sites in #OpGreenRights

Anonymous hacktivists oppose government activity

May 11, 2015 14:20 GMT  ·  By
DDoS attack services can be purchased for a few bucks
   DDoS attack services can be purchased for a few bucks

Two websites under the administration of the Brazilian government have been targeted in a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack by a group of hacktivists operating under the Anonymous outfit banner.

The action is part of #OpGreenRights, a movement against large companies and governments that create and support development of technology harmful to the natural environment.

Government news portal taken offline

Two of the latest victims of the hacktivists are “www.brasil.gov.br” and “www2.brasil.gov.br,” and the reason for attacking them is opposition against hydro-power development, according to a message posted on Monday on the @OpGreenRights Twitter channel.

At the moment of writing, only the former website is down. Its purpose is to deliver to the citizens of Brazil news aggregated from ministries and departments of the federal government.

“Where State oppression threatens irreparable harm to nature and human life,rebellion is an inalienable right,” said the hacktivists in a tweet today, adding the hashtag #DDoS.

DDoS services are cheap and easy to find

Carrying out a DDoS attack on a target is not a difficult job nowadays as there are multiple services renting networks of compromised computers for this purpose. The price is generally set depending on the length of the attack, and it can be as small as $5 / €4.5 per hour.

In many cases, there are multiple service levels the client can choose from for a more sophisticated assault, and the cost can be of over $100 / €90. However, regular DDoS can be purchased for as little as $40 / €36, and services are not difficult to find, as they are advertised even in public places such as YouTube.

Members of the OpGreenRights group are not at the first cyber incident. At the end of April, they focused on Areva, a multinational group that specializes in nuclear and renewable energy.

The company’s website has also fallen victim to a DDoS because of building a new-generation nuclear reactor, whose design, although improved compared to previous versions, has not yet passed controversy regarding the safety of the materials used, according to the hacktivists.  

[UPDATE, May 12]: Both websites are currently up and running.