Associated Press

February 25^th, 11:28AM PST

All of Sweden Left Anonymous

By Richard Kulesza

Associated Press

STOCKHOLM (AP) –The Swedish Tax Agency Skatteverket underwent a major cyber-terrorist attack today, says Swedish authorities.  Members from the loosely organized group known as Anonymous are suspected of responsibility for the attack in which massive amounts of digitized citizen tax records were altered extensively.

The attack occurred sometime after the agency closed yesterday night between the hours of 6pm and 8am CET.  The damage was quickly discovered by returning employees and Skatteverket has been temporarily shut down for investigations.  Currently the Stockholm police are releasing few details on the investigation and will not disclose suspects.

The entire database including all backups, only recently digitized, was previously thought impenetrable and internal agents may be suspect. The data was accessed overnight and the names of every Swedish citizen were altered.  A Swedish government official who wished to remain nameless claimed, “It could take years to return citizens into the system and effectively record taxation.”

No admission of guilt has currently been declared, nor are authorities sure if the attackers copied any information before their attack.  Despite the massive damage the attack has already caused, the potential information accessed by the attackers gives the potential for massive identity theft for almost any Swedish citizen.

This is the most recent and ambitious manoeuvre made my Anonymous under the pretention of global activism.  The group was largely known previously for pranks and even cyber-vigilantism, and has largely rallied under the cause of freedom of information.  Similar, though less extreme, resistance has been made by Anonymous against restraints on freedom within the internet, mostly through distributed denial-of-service (DDOB) attacks in which web sites are overloaded and shut down. 

It is suspected the Swedish government was targeted due to their involvement in the arrest and persecution of Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, over rape charges.  Anonymous has demonstrated itself as quite actively supporting Assange and attacking anybody related to the restraint of WikiLeaks, claiming to be protecting freedom of speech.  Assange has denied any connection to the group Anonymous, and has publicly denounced their activities.  No direct connection to Assange has been made with the group.

The Swedish government has called the attack “a malicious assault on civilization and the rule of law” and has called upon the international community to offer full cooperation in the investigation and persecution of the cyber-terrorists.  Anonymous, due to its nature of being sourced from online communities, likely contains members from around the globe and has so far proven difficult to trace and persecute.

For now, Swedish citizens and companies alike are financially anonymous to the Swedish government.  Those who do their taxes electronically remain completely.  How, or even if, the country will manage to organize or record its taxes in the upcoming year is currently uncertain.  Without records, persecution for tax evasion would be near impossible; potentially resulting in massive losses in tax revenue by the Swedish government.  The Swedish Ministry of Finance refused to comment.

International implications of such an attack are tremendous.  With the knowledge that a few unruly individuals can accomplish such an attack, many governments are turning inwards on their own systems.  Some governments have temporarily shut down web sites until defence against external forces can be reinforced.  While cyber-attacks are nothing new, the severity of last night’s damage has left many doubting the security of a largely digitized world.

The attack once again brings WikiLeaks to the forefront, with the war on free information now having financial consequences in the millions.  As the stakes increase, tensions run higher.  Attempts to stop Anonymous so far have only accomplished to radicalize a group already infamous for being near-impossible to deal with.