January 5, 2012
Hackers disable German right-wing websites
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The websites of several right-wing extremists in Germany have been attacked by hackers.
The international hacker group known as “Anonymous” disabled several neo-Nazi websites in an “Operation Blitzkrieg” on Jan. 1, with a “Happy New Year” wish to their targets, according to the German news agency DAPD.
The German-language website nazi-leaks.net published data about donors to the country’s biggest far-right political party - the National Democratic Party of Germany, with an estimated 7,000 members - and about customers of a right-wing mail-order company.
Neo-Nazi groups reacted with alarm to the publishing of client data, which in some cases included e-mail addresses and phone numbers; Spiegel Online reported that the National Democratic Party has threatened to sue, while the publishers of a far-right paper, Junge Freiheit, have already filed charges.
The attack comes as Germany grapples with news about a violent neo-Nazi ring that operated unchecked for more than ten years, and is allegedly responsible for at least ten murders of immigrants in Germany. Recently, it was revealed that German authorities knew about the cell’s activities and proclivities at least a decade ago.
While German politicians and religious leaders debate whether to ban the far-right National Democratic Party, groups like “Anonymous” are taking the law into their own hands, testing legal boundaries with their cyber attacks. “Anonymous” has dealt similar blows to the Scientology organization, organized crime and drug cartels, among others.
The creators of the Nazi-Leaks website reportedly are planning to publish additional material. So far, there has been no confirmation that the lists published this week are authentic.
According to news reports, some of the information had already been hacked and published early last year and has now been assembled at one website.
