Anonymous Attacks Greek Central Bank, Warns Others

Greece's central bank became the target of a cyber-attack by activist hacking group Anonymous on Tuesday which disrupted service of its website, a Bank of Greece official said on Wednesday.

"The attack lasted for a few minutes and was successfully tackled by the bank's security systems. The only thing that was affected by the denial-of-service attack was our website," the official said, declining to be named.

Anonymous originated in 2003, adopting the Guy Fawkes mask as their symbol for online hacking. The mask is a stylised portrayal of an oversized smile, red cheeks and a wide moustache upturned at both ends.

"Olympus will fall. A few days ago we declared the revival of operation Icarus. Today we have continuously taken down the website of the Bank of Greece," the group says in a video on You Tube.

"This marks the start of a 30-day campaign against central bank sites across the world."

© Thomson Reuters 2016