The District government Web site is the latest victim of hackers reportedly protesting the U.S. government, a city spokesman said.
Parts of the city’s Web site, dc.gov, including the Department of Transportation and the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, have been collapsing for periods of time.
Pedro Ribeiro, a spokesman for Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D), described the hacking on Thursday as more of an annoyance than a threat. “They’re not endangering services,” he said.
Ribeiro said the city is working with the federal government and vendors to address these attacks.
A hacker, going by the name Cosmosis Jones, wrote in an e-mail to The Washington Post that the group will continue similar attacks. The e-mail did not state specific reasons for the hacking.
“Our attack on DC.gov was one of many reasons. To address that we will stand up for our rights on the Internet. We have also attacked NYC.gov due to OWS (Occupy Wall St),” the hacker wrote to The Post. “We will continue to launch further attacks against various DC websites and gov websites.”
