05:44 ET<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\nInternet activist group Anonymous has said calls for it to attack the website of controversial anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church were a hoax.<\/p>\n
The denial follows a publication on an Anonymous-affiliated website attacking the church.<\/p>\n
In a new statement, Anonymous urged members not to participate in any denial-of-service attacks against the church’s website.<\/p>\n
Anonymous said it had “more pressing matters to deal with at the moment”.<\/p>\n
The new statement, which claimed to be authored by more than 20 members of Anonymous, said it didn’t “remember sending” the original release.<\/p>\n
Pimple-faced nerds<\/span><\/p>\nAnonymous has risen to fame in recent months for its “hacktivism”, which has seen it launch denial-of-service attacks against firms it saw as pursuing policies that are in oppostition to its freedom of the web ideals.<\/p>\n
The group recently crashed a number of Egyptian government websites, in support of the country’s pro-democracy protests.<\/p>\n
It also attacked several online companies that it believed had helped clamp down on Wikileaks’ activity, including Paypal and Amazon.<\/p>\n
Anonymous’s informal structure increases the chances that rogue elements can initiate action without widespread support, said Graham Cluley, of security firm Sophos.<\/p>\n
Mr Cluley warned that its followers could potentially be led into mounting a major hack under false pretenses.<\/p>\n
“There are dangers in future that someone may pose as Anonymous and say that they want an attack”.<\/p>\n
In its latest statement, Anonymous warned its members not to participate in DDoS attacks against Westboro Baptist Church in case it was a trap.<\/p>\n
Westboro Baptist Church has been widely condemned for its aggressive anti-homosexual campaigning.<\/p>\n
A number of US states have passed legislation, banning members from protesting close to military funerals.<\/p>\n
The church’s leader, pastor Fred Phelps, was banned from entering the UK by the Home Office in 2009.<\/p>\n
The church had issued a response to the original release, branding Anonymous “a puddle of pimple-faced nerds”.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n
Original post:
\nAnonymous denies Westboro attack<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 22 February 2011 Last updated at 05:44 ET Internet activist group Anonymous has said calls for it to attack the website of controversial anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church were a hoax. The denial follows a publication on an Anonymous-affiliated website attacking the church. In a new statement, Anonymous urged members not to participate in any denial-of-service attacks against the church’s website. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-276767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n
Anonymous denies Westboro attack - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/anonymous-denies-westboro-attack\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Anonymous denies Westboro attack - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"22 February 2011 Last updated at 05:44 ET Internet activist group Anonymous has said calls for it to attack the website of controversial anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church were a hoax. The denial follows a publication on an Anonymous-affiliated website attacking the church. In a new statement, Anonymous urged members not to participate in any denial-of-service attacks against the church's website.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/anonymous-denies-westboro-attack\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/anonymous-denies-westboro-attack\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Anonymous denies Westboro attack\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-22T10:44:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/anonymous-denies-westboro-attack\/\"},\"wordCount\":326,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/anonymous-denies-westboro-attack\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/anonymous-denies-westboro-attack\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/anonymous-denies-westboro-attack\/\",\"name\":\"Anonymous denies Westboro attack - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-22T10:44:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/anonymous-denies-westboro-attack\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Anonymous denies Westboro attack - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/anonymous-denies-westboro-attack\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Anonymous denies Westboro attack - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"22 February 2011 Last updated at 05:44 ET Internet activist group Anonymous has said calls for it to attack the website of controversial anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church were a hoax. The denial follows a publication on an Anonymous-affiliated website attacking the church. In a new statement, Anonymous urged members not to participate in any denial-of-service attacks against the church's website.","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/anonymous-denies-westboro-attack\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/anonymous-denies-westboro-attack\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Anonymous denies Westboro attack","datePublished":"2011-02-22T10:44:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/anonymous-denies-westboro-attack\/"},"wordCount":326,"commentCount":0,"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/anonymous-denies-westboro-attack\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/anonymous-denies-westboro-attack\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/anonymous-denies-westboro-attack\/","name":"Anonymous denies Westboro attack - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-02-22T10:44:04+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/anonymous-denies-westboro-attack\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276767\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}