Activists from Anonymous have claimed responsibility for a cyber attack that paralyzed five Icelandic government websites last week. The group launched the attack in protest of the country’s slaughter of fin whales, a protected marine mammal.
The sites, which included the prime minister’s official website and that of the environment and interior ministries, went offline on Friday. They remained down until about midday on Saturday.
In a recently released video, Anonymous vowed to expose Iceland’s violation of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium. They called for consumers to boycott products made in the country and likened whaling as being on par with poaching.
“Whales do not have a voice. We will be a voice for them. It’s time to speak out about this impending extinction of a species. It’s time to let Iceland know we will not stand by and watch as they drive this animal to extinction,” said the group in the video tagged #OpWhales.
Anonymous identified fin whales as being the whalers’ targets. The marine mammals are the second largest animals on the planet behind Blue whales. Icelandic whalers also hunt mink whales.
Despite the International Whaling Commission (IWC) having issued a moratorium on commercial hunting of fin whales, Iceland has resumed hunting. Much of the meat is shipped overseas for consumption in Japan.
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