Anonymous Hits Swedish Government Web Sites

Retaliation over ISP raids

Websites of several Swedish government authorities, including the central bank's, went offline Friday as they were hit in what could be the latest incident in a string of attacks that the hacker collective Anonymous has taken credit for.

Around 1330 GMT, websites belonging to the Swedish Security Service and the Swedish Prosecutors' Office were unavailable. Earlier on Friday afternoon, riksbank.se, the Swedish central bank's site, was offline after having been flooded by traffic.

In a video posted on YouTube Thursday, Internet activists were urged to take part in "major attacks on several vital Web portals that represents Swedish society." The attack, scheduled for Friday afternoon, would be "the biggest thing ever done in anonymous history," the poster, who claimed to represent Anonymous, said.