Infamous hacking group Anonymous claims it hacked the British government’s website using its own Wi-Fi network.
Members of the activist group gathered in London last week for a protest called the Million Mask March and were able to locate the government’s Wi-Fi password on a publicly available website.
They used the Wi-Fi network to infiltrate email servers, steal log-in details and launch a distributed denial of service attack on the government website.
Speaking to theregister.co.uk, an Anonymous member suggested that the attack was just a bit of fun and to highlight how weak the government’s internal network is.
They said: “This was an easy takeover with a wide range, because most of the credentials were given up online. We took over many pig-bought, taxpayer-iPads and many machines, including Dell computers.
“It was like taking candy from a baby. Many of the machines were unsecured, with default security options. Our Eastern European brothers also attacked the Parliament website, causing slowness all day.”
According to nextgov.com, the government refused to accept that it had been hacked by Anonymous activists. A parliament spokesperson suggested that its website had heavier traffic than normal during the protest, but that it remained unpenetrated throughout the day.
At the time of writing, the parliament Wi-Fi password was still freely available online.
