The hacker group Anonymous said it has taken down sites run by a number of government and content organizations The hacker group Anonymous is claiming responsibility for attacks that have taken down websites run by Universal Music, the U.S. Department of Justice and the Recording Industry Association of America in retaliation for the government’s removal of the Megaupload websites. “The government takes down Megaupload? 15 minutes later Anonymous takes down government and record label sites,” the Anonymous Twitter feed read. That note was followed shortly by this one: “Megaupload was taken down w/out SOPA being law. Now imagine what will happen if it passes. The Internet as we know it will end. FIGHT BACK.” The tweet referred to the Stop Online Piracy Act, an Internet piracy bill being considered in the U.S. Congress.Megaupload.com distributed a variety of digital content, including music and movies. On Thursday, the U.S. DOJ announced that it had charged seven people who allegedly were affiliated with the site with running an organized criminal enterprise responsible for worldwide online piracy of copyrighted content. The DOJ worked with authorities in New Zealand, who arrested four of the seven people. Megaupload.com is no longer accessible. The action happened just a day after thousands of websites went dark in protest of bills before Congress, including SOPA, that would make it easier for authorities to force ISPs (Internet service providers) to block people in the U.S. from accessing foreign websites accused of offering pirated content. Opponents say the bills would let law enforcement shut down entire websites before the sites have been found by a court to infringe copyright. By mid-afternoon, the people behind the Anonymous Twitter account had claimed responsibility for attacks affecting sites for the DOJ, RIAA, Universal Music, the U.S. Copyright Office, Broadcast Music Inc. and the Motion Picture Association of America. They said the FBI website was on its target list, although that site remained operational midday on the West Coast. Nancy Gohring covers mobile phones and cloud computing for The IDG News Service. Follow Nancy on Twitter at @idgnancy. Nancy’s e-mail address is Nancy_Gohring@idg.com Related content feature 3 ways to fix old, unsafe code that lingers from open-source and legacy programs Code vulnerability is not only a risk of open-source code, with many legacy systems still in use — whether out of necessity or lack of visibility — the truth is that cybersecurity teams will inevitably need to address the problem. By Maria Korolov Nov 29, 2023 9 mins Security Practices Vulnerabilities Security news Amazon’s AWS Control Tower aims to help secure your data’s borders As digital compliance tasks and data sovereignty rules get ever more complicated, Amazon wants automation to help. By Jon Gold Nov 28, 2023 3 mins Regulation Cloud Security news North Korean hackers mix code from proven malware campaigns to avoid detection Threat actors are combining RustBucket loader with KandyKorn payload to effect an evasive and persistent RAT attack. By Shweta Sharma Nov 28, 2023 3 mins Malware feature How a digital design firm navigated its SOC 2 audit L+R's pursuit of SOC 2 certification was complicated by hardware inadequacies and its early adoption of AI, but a successful audit has provided security and business benefits. By Alex Levin Nov 28, 2023 11 mins Certifications Compliance Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe