(RNN) - In what they call their largest attack ever, the hacktivist group Anonymous is claiming responsibility for bringing down the websites for the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice and about half a dozen music industry websites, among others.
At about 7:40 p.m. ET, the FBI's site went down, but was back up about 2 minutes later. It went down again about 7:53 p.m. ET. The DOJ site went down about 5:30 p.m. ET, and remains inaccessible.
The group claims they crashed the sites in retaliation for federal prosecutors for shutting down Megaupload.com, a file-sharing website.
In all, Anonymous, via their Twitter feed, says they've taken down a handful of government and music industry websites, including Copyright.gov, RIAA.org, which is the website for Recording Industry Association of America, Universal Music Group, BMI.com, Warner Music Group, and mpaa.org, the website of Motion Picture Association of America.
Attempts to contact a Justice Department spokeswoman have not been successful. However, three posts on its Twitter feed said the site is "experiencing a significant increase in activity."
"The department is working to ensure the website is available while we investigate the origins of this activity ... which is being treated as a malicious act until we can fully identify the root cause of the disruption."
Anonymous is a worldwide group of self-described hackers who occasionally target the websites of businesses or organizations.
The group previously shut down websites for Bank of America, MasterCard, and PayPal because those companies would not process donations to WikiLeaks.
The company said that "they should have expected us" on their Twitter feed and "Let's just say, for #SOPA supporters their #SOPAblackout is today. #Anonymous."
The New York Times reported Thursday that seven people associated with the website Megaupload, including its founder, were indicted for copyright infringement.
The website lets users transfer large files – such as full-length movies - for storage without registering an identity. The Times reports the website has earned $175 million, while "causing $500 million in damages to copyright holders," according to the grand jury indictment.
Founder Kim Schmitz (known as Kim Dotcom) and three other employees were arrested in New Zealand, the FBI reported.
MegaUpload is the world's 52nd most visited website.
Copyright 2012 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.
The self-described hacktivist Anonymous targeted the DOJ website and several others Thursday. (Source: Tweetdeck)
The FBI's website was inaccessible for Thursday night. (Source: FBI.gov)
Clicking on FBI.gov returns this message. (Source: FBI.org)
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