Hackers Declare Data War On WikiLeaks' Enemies

(London)  --  More cyber attacks could be on the way for foes of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

 A representative for those launching the attacks told BBC Radio 4 today that it will likely turn into a "war of data."  A 22-year-old software engineer calling himself "Coldblood" said a loosely associated group of hackers known as "Anonymous" is targeting companies that have stopped doing business with WikiLeaks since the whistleblowing website released a cache of embarassing secret U.S. diplomatic cables.Coldblood said hackers are siding with WikiLeaks because they want to, quote, "keep the Internet free and open for everyone."  He went on to say that "more and more people" have started downloading the botnet tool that lets them join in the cyber attacks.

Coldblood listed Amazon, MasterCard, Visa and PayPal as some of the companies whose websites have been targeted by distributed denial of service attacks in recent days. It's also suspected that Anonymous was responsible for crashing government websites in Sweden, which had Assange arrested in the U.K. this week on sex crimes allegations. Assange's supporters claim the charges are politically motivated.Meanwhile, Assange remains jailed in London and is fighting extradition to Sweden.