Anonymous downs Home Office website in extradition protest

The Anonymous hacktivist group has hit the UK Home Office with online attacks which knocked several government sites offline.

The distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack temporarily took down the Home Office's home.gov.uk site as well as targeting the justive.gov.uk and number10.gov.uk.

While the loosely-connected Anonymous group lacks an official news channel, accounts associated with the group tweeted that the attacks were part of Operation Trial At Home, a protest campaign against the UK government.

The Anon_Central feed reported that the attacks were in part a show of solidarity with Gary McKinnon, Christopher Tappin and Richard O'Dwyer.

McKinnon continues to face extradition over charges of hacking US government systems, while Tappin faces charges for selling materials to Iran and O'Dwyer has been charged with copyright infringement.

"Selling your citizens to foreigner is not acceptable!" the protestors said in a tweet.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for security firm Sophos, noted while the takedowns were done as part of a protest, that those who participate in such DDoS operations could still face legal action if caught.

"You have to admit that this is an audacious move by Anonymous and its supporters," Cluley said in a blog post.

"Other hacktivists who have launched DDoS attacks against websites belonging to British authorities have been arrested in recent history, and are currently facing trial."