Independent Newspapers has confirmed reports that its popular IOL website came under a sustained denial-of-service attack on Wednesday, apparently by a group calling itself Anonymous Africa.
The website, one of South Africa’s most popular general news sites, was unavailable for an extended period on Wednesday morning but had been restored by lunchtime.
Attackers use denial of service attacks, in which they direct a torrent of traffic at a website, in order to overload it and render it unavailable to Internet users.
In a post, the newspaper group said it had come under attack from an organisation that claimed it did it as a result of its alleged support of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe.
“The attack led to Independent Newspapers’ Internet and e-mail systems going down at 11am,” it said. “Just before the attack, a group calling themselves Anonymous Africa, with the Twitter handle @Zim4thewin, sent out this tweet: ‘Please note everyone. Today #IOL will be attacked for ignoring the genocide against the Ndebele people and for supporting a dictator.’
“Minutes later, they wrote: ‘@IOL Tick tock 3 minutes left until the African spring tidal wave hits your corrupt mouthpiece.’ The tweets then counted down to 11am, when they wrote: ‘@iol You are now tango down! for crimes against humanity!’”
According to Independent Newspapers, the IOL website was restored at around 1pm.
“As a news organisation that includes more than a dozen newspapers as well online properties, we publish a range of opinions, including some that may not be popular,” said IOL editor Alastair Otter. “Publishing these does not imply that we agree, or disagree, with those views. We pride ourselves on allowing and publishing a multiplicity of views. It is unfortunate that anyone could use this simple principle of media as an excuse for an attack on us.” — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media
