Anonymous shut down Tokyo airport website in retaliation for detention of American anti-whaling activist
The website of Japan's main airport was taken offline for several hours over the weekend
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Hacktivist group Anonymous have claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on the website of Tokyo's Narita airport over the weekend.
The airport's website went offline between 22 and 23 January, after a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack caused it to collapse under the strain of too much traffic.
A number of Twitter accounts associated with Anonymous claimed the cyberattack was in retaliation for the detention of Ric O'Barry, an American dolphin trainer turned animal rights activist, who has been a vocal critic of Japanese whale and dolphin hunting.
One tweet, purportedly sent by someone who worked on the cyberattack, read: "We support Ric and demand his release now!"
O'Barry, who appeared in The Cove, the Oscar-winning documentary about Japanese dolphin hunting, was detained on 18 January while trying to enter Japan on a tourist visa.
Immigration authorities did not say why he was not let in to the country, but many have speculated it was due to his well-known anti-whaling activism. He is now set to be deported, and is facing a five year ban from Japan.
While the attack prevented people from accessing the website, airport officials told the Japan Times that only the customer-facing side of the site was affected - flights continued to operate normally and customers' personal information was not at risk.
The airport cyberattack came just a couple of weeks after Anonymous took down the website of Japanese car manufacturer Nissan, again in protest at Japan's recently-announced resumption of whale hunting in the Antarctic.
The latest round of Anonymous attacks began in November last year, after Japan announced it would resume whaling this summer after a year-long hiatus.
The Japanese Fisheries Agency has limited the number of whales that can be hunted, however - up to 333 whales a year will be able to be killed by Japanese whalers for the next 12 years.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments