Hacker group Anonymous takes aims at Yemen

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The online hacker group Anonymous, responsible for shutting down Egyptian government websites to support the anti-government protestors, has now set their sights on Yemen. Gawker reported that the digital assault on Egypt’s Ministry of Information and President Hosni Mubarak’s National Democratic Party websites were followed up by taking down Yemen’s Ministry of Information and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s websites during a “day of rage protest” Thursday in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a.

According to the New York Times, about 500 Anonymous hackers took down the Egyptian government websites.  Activist Gregg Housh, member and spokesman for Anonymous told the New York Times, “We want freedom.  It’s as simple as that.  We’re sick of oppressive government encroaching on people.”

Anonymous showed their support for Wikileaks by launching a cyber attack on the corporate websites of Visa, Mastercard and PayPal.com last fall.