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Ahmadinejad Foes Gang Up on Websites

'Hacktivists' overload president's blog, other government outlets

By Jason Farago, Newser Staff

Posted Jun 16, 2009 7:38 AM CDT

(Newser) – As protests continue on the streets of Tehran, hackers in and outside of Iran are mounting an assault on the establishment's main websites, reports ZDNet. The sites of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several news agencies were crippled yesterday after activists flooded them with traffic. The campaign appears to have spread on Twitter, which has become one of the most reliable forms of communication during the unrest.

Similar cyberattacks took place in 2008 during the Georgia-Russia war, the same year Chinese "hacktivists" temporarily shut down CNN's website. Those attacks came from a central source, but the onslaught on Iran has come from hundreds of individuals, each reloading pages so frequently that servers eventually crash. Their goal, according to one tweet: "Overload Iran’s propaganda websites—we can do it together!"

Iranian supporters of presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi attend a protest near the Iranian embassy in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, June 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks to the media in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 14, 2009. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, smiles after addressing a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, Russia, Tuesday, June 16, 2009. (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel)

Tens of thousands of supporters of pro-reform leader Mir Hossein Mousavi stream through the center of Tehran, many wearing the trademark green color of Mousavi's campaign. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 13 comments

Snarfeh

Jun 18, 2009 1:38 AM CDT

And take a lesson, Bushites...*we* didn't even have to invade Iran to trigger this....meanwhile, over in Iraq...

doingtherightthing

Jun 16, 2009 12:58 PM CDT

your right she's cute and knows it, check the smile out for the camera........nobody cares if the Iranians blow themselves up or kill there cyber space......I for one don't..........maybe she's posing for the cameras.........oh well

2-bits

Jun 16, 2009 12:51 PM CDT

With that out of the way, can we agree that the term Hacktivist is over used? It's hardly hacking if the sophistication of your attack is limited to reloading webpages. Maybe if it was a distributed DOS attack with a botnet, or an SSH attack on a blog so that you could vandalize it, but reloading webpages? No.

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Ahmadinejad Foes Gang Up on Websites

'Hacktivists' overload president's blog, other government outlets

OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Iran • Russia • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad • Georgia • CNN • Distributed Denial of Service • hackers • Ayatollah Ali Khamenei • Twitter • denial of service attack • Iranian election • Mir Hossein Mousavi

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Khamenei Warns US: Don't Mess With Iran

Any response to alleged plot against Saudi ambassador will be 'resolute' response

Ayatollah Khamenei Backs Ahmadinejad in Power Struggle

But Iran supreme leader also issues warning to the president

Ayatollah: Aide Has 'Bewitched' Ahmadinejad

Cleric says president's 'unnatural' behavior is due to spells, charms

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Is AWOL From Job

He's in a power tiff with Iran's supreme leader

Cops Shoot Tear Gas at Iranian Protesters

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Ahmadinejad Foes Gang Up on Websites

'Hacktivists' overload president's blog, other government outlets

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Iran • Russia • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad • Georgia • CNN • Distributed Denial of Service • hackers • Ayatollah Ali Khamenei • Twitter • denial of service attack • Iranian election • Mir Hossein Mousavi

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

Khamenei Warns US: Don't Mess With Iran

Any response to alleged plot against Saudi ambassador will be 'resolute' response

Ayatollah Khamenei Backs Ahmadinejad in Power Struggle

But Iran supreme leader also issues warning to the president

Ayatollah: Aide Has 'Bewitched' Ahmadinejad

Cleric says president's 'unnatural' behavior is due to spells, charms

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Is AWOL From Job

He's in a power tiff with Iran's supreme leader

Cops Shoot Tear Gas at Iranian Protesters

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi's house blocked, phone lines cut

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Newser By Users

Community

Site Maps

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