By Gianluca Mezzofiore | April 24, 2012 10:36 AM GMT

Hackers belonging of the UGNazi group have launched a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack against the CIA official website, taking it offline.

The assault was initially claimed by Anonymous hacking group, but later it admitted hacktivists UGNazi had brought down the website supposedly to protest against an anti-piracy bill called Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (Cispa).

If approved, the law will enable businesses and the government to more easily share cyber-security information. Critics claim that the legislation contains few restraints on how and when the government may monitor private information and that it could end up damaging file sharers, rather than halting foreign spies or hackers.

The CIA website appeared to be online on Tuesday morning. Spokesmen from the intelligence organisation did not confirm the attack but said they were "looking into these reports".

Last week, a Brazilian hacker member of Anonymous called Havittaja took down the website of the US Department of Justice. On Twitter, he claimed responsibility for the DDoS, saying it was done for the "lulz", which refers to the popular online abbreviation "for laughs".

Read more: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/332359/20120424/hackers-target-cia-web...