Czech government’s sites under attack over anti-online gambling legislation

The Czech branch of Anonymous targeted the European country’s government websites to protest the senate’s decision of blocking unauthorised online gambling operators’ sites.

Czech Republic.- Hackers from the Czech branch of Anonymous group have attacked Czech Republic government websites to protest the country’s decision to block the domains of unauthorised online gambling operators.

Czech Republic’s senate had approved the country’s new gambling legislation last week. Under these new laws the market to international online operators would open up for the first time, whilst sites not holding a Czech license would have its domains blocked.

The senate’s official website Senat.cz had been knocked following a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack by someone claiming to be associated with the Anonymous hackers collective. The cyber attack also affected the Interior Ministry website and its affiliated police and firefighters’ websites, as well as the Social Democratic Party (CSSD), which holds a majority in the Czech parliament.

An English-language statement accompanied the senate’s website attack explaining that the site had been targeted “because you passed a law to prevent free access to the Internet.” Furthermore, the statement warned that this was not the last time the government would hear from the hackers on this issue.