Hacktivists attack US university website on anniversary of hacker's suicide

Hacktivists over the weekend defaced a web page of the Massachussetts Institute of Technology in memory of a hacker who took his own life in January last year.

Anonymous said it hacked MIT's Cogeneration Project web page.

"We decided to hack MIT again in 2014 on the anniversary  with a second tribute to Aaron Swartz," it said in a tweet dated Jan. 11, Manila time.

The attacked site (cogen.mit.edu) was inaccessible as of 6 a.m. Sunday in Manila.

A separate report on ZDNet said that before the hacked site became inaccessible, it was defaced and titled "THE DAY WE FIGHT BACK."

ZDNet quoted the defaced page as saying, "REMEMBER THE DAY WE FIGHT BACK REMEMBER."

Swartz had taken his own life in New York City on Jan. 11, 2013.

ZDNet said MIT may have been attacked because it claimed at first to play a neutral role in Swartz's prosecution but later information showed MIT may have played an active role.

Swartz had been charged in September 2012 for felony hacking, after he was arrested in July 2011 for allegedly taking MIT papers from the JSTOR online journal archive.

"The Operation Last Resort campaign is retaliation for the suicide, which many - including the Swartz family - believe was a result of overzealous prosecution by the Department of Justice and what the family deemed a 'bullying' use of outdated computer crime laws," it added.

It was the third time MIT was hacked for Swartz. After the first time on Jan. 11 last year, hackers again hit MIT on Jan. 22. — LBG, GMA News