Hacktivists ‘Anonymous Africa’ bring down the website of SA’s ruling ANC

It seem Anonymous Africa has struck again. Just days after attacking South African news website IOL, the group is claiming responsibility for taking down the official website of the country’s ruling African National Congress (ANC).

The website, which the ANC has confirmed was taken offline by an external distributed denial of service (DDos) attack, went down earlier today after Anonymous Africa (@zim4thewin) tweeted threats to take action for the government’s support of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe.

Ladies, gentleman and secret agents. today we shall be hitting one of the biggest enablers of the mass murdering mugabe. the ANC in 50 min

— Anonymous Africa (@zim4thewin) June 14, 2013

@MyANC_ tick tock tick tock, your site will stop working in 40 minutes. think about all the blood on your corrupt hands when it is down

— Anonymous Africa (@zim4thewin) June 14, 2013

@MyANC_ 20 minutes until your site is offline

— Anonymous Africa (@zim4thewin) June 14, 2013

The attackers, who self-identify as part of hacker collective Anonymous, said they stopped the attack just under two hours later, but access to the site was not immediately restored. The ANC told eNCA that this is because the website’s administrators decided to “switch it off completely” so they could investigate the source of the attacks.

The party also released an official statement on the attack, saying that its website management team is “currently working on the problem, including assessing means to strengthen our security so that such does not recur in future” and that the attackers claimed to represent the people of Zimbabwe:

The African National Congress and the South African government, working through the South African Development Community (SADC), continue to work with the Government and people of Zimbabwe to assist them find their own lasting solution to the challenges facing that country. To date, as a result of the efforts of the people of Zimbabwe and SADC, we have seen the successful implementation of critical milestones in the Global Political Agreement including the holding of a free, fair and successful referendum, and the signing into law of a new Constitution of Zimbabwe; significant achievements which have been welcomed and accepted by the people of Zimbabwe.

The African National Congress will not be deterred nor derailed in the efforts to assist, where requested, in Zimbabwe or elsewhere on the continent. Acts of deliberate sabotage such as the one on our website should serve only to strengthen the resolve of all stakeholders to constructively engage in a free and democratic manner.

Shortly after the attack on the ANC, another account (@Not4TheWin) tweeted that it had taken down the official website of the country’s biggest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, which was offline briefly. Anonymous Africa has denied they were involved in the later attack or that they are affiliated with the second account, which has since been deleted.

The attack is the latest in a number of cyber assaults on South African websites. Recently, the data of thousands of whistleblowers was released online after a self-proclaimed Anonymous member hacked the website of the South African Police Service, and the ANC Youth League’s website has been hacked and defaced repeatedly.