Cyber activists associated with Anonymous stepped up their Megaupload retaliatory campaign over the weekend in response to the shuttering of the popular file-sharing site.
In addition to targeting sites like the Department of Justice (DoJ), the FBI and MPAA last week, the collective turned its sights on CBS.com – DDOsing and redirecting visitors to alternate locations.
Other sites reportedly hit by Anonymous over the weekend include Universal Music, Vivendi, Tangara De Serra (Brazil) and Elysée, the official website of the French government.
Meanwhile, a separate group of hackers (sympathetic to Anonymous) managed to jack the Twitter feeds administered by the ColbertReport and TheDailyShow, sending out an image depicting two men in a disguise. Other accounts, such as @ComedyCentral and @Spike_TV, were apparently hacked via HootSuite.
As TG Daily previously reported, seven individuals and two corporations – Megaupload Limited and Vestor Limited – were charged last week by the DoJ with engaging in a racketeering conspiracy, conspiring to commit copyright infringement, conspiring to commit money laundering and two counts of criminal copyright infringement.
The alleged leader is New Zealander Kim Dotcom, 37 – aka Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor – who founded Megaupload and is the director and sole shareholder of holding company Vestor.
The other people charged are chief marketing officer Finn Batato, 38, of Germany; graphic designer Julius Bencko, 35, of Slovakia; head of business development Sven Echternach, 39; chief technical officer Mathias Ortmann, 40, of Germany; programmer Andrus Nomm, 32, of Estonia; and Dutch citizen Bram van der Kolk, aka Bramos, 29, who oversees programming and the underlying network structure for the websites.
They face between five and 20 years jail for each of the charges.
