Web turns DDoS on anti-piracy groups

Users of the 4chan message board users have launched distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on firms associated with the war on online piracy.

The websites of Indian software company Aiplex Software, which was hired to launched DDoS attacks on The Pirate Bay, and rights holder groups including the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) were knocked offline over the weekend in protest against relentless crackdown campaigns.

Girish Kumar, managing director of Aiplex Software, told The Sydney Morning Herald earlier this month that it employed DDoS attacks on torrent search sites including The PIrate Bay.

That revelation came back to haunt the company last weekend after its website was knocked offline for several hours.

According to security firm Panda Software, the MPAA's site was down for 22 hours.

The next lobbyist attacked was the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) was also said to be a target, according to torrent news site, TorrentFreak, which noted that non-4Chan users quickly joined the protest DDoS.

The attacks may have been short-lived but they took effect quickly.

Panda Software reported the websites of the MPAA and IFPI were taken down within eight minutes of the attacks being launched.