Formula 1 website attacked by Anonymous, brought down by DDoS

Anonymous hacktivists appear to have successfully blasted the Formula 1 website off the net, with a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.

The internet attack against www.formula1.com comes just ahead of Bahrain’s highly controversial hosting of the Formula 1 Grand Prix this weekend, which is planned to take place despite violent protests in the country.

Under the banner of “#OpBahrain”, Anonymous hackers also defaced a website associated with Formula 1 racing, and posted a press release:

Part of the message read:

For over one year the people of Bahrain have struggled against the oppressive regime of King Hamad bin Al Khalifa. They have been murdered in the streets, run over with vehicles, beaten, tortured, tear gassed, kidnapped by police, had their businesses vandalised by police, and have tear gas thrown in to their homes on a nightly…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.