Anonymous Tricked People into Joining Website Attacks

Forbes: Over the weekend, the hacktivist group Anonymous continued its retaliation against the takedown of the site Megaupload by launching DDoS attacks against CBS.com, Universal Music, Vivendi and other media-related sites. Akamai’s web-monitoring service reported that attack-related traffic increased 24 percent and network traffic in general climbed 14 percent shortly after the attacks began. The group is now asking for suggestions for its next target. Rumors swirl that the group may try to take down Facebook.

Security researchers say that Anonymous tricked people into participating in the attacks. The group distributed several malicious links via Twitter and other means; those who clicked on the links became part of the attack, often without their knowledge.