A state-sponsored threat group linked to China has been engaged in a five-month long cyberattack against the Vatican and other Catholic Church-related organizations. Attacks have come in the form of spear phishing emails laced with the PlugX remote access tool (RAT) as the payload. Read more

The four-day coding marathon event began yesterday.

The hackathon, called VHacks, has brought together people from all faiths as well as those who have no faith.

In this, computer scientists, developers and designers use technology to solve global problems. Read more

As reported in Friday's edition of CathNews, the Vatican's website was off line on Wednesday 7 March, allegedly under attack from Anonymous.

However, despite launching an attack for several hours, Anonymous was unsuccessful in completely shutting the site down.

The hackers "were not able to achieve their objective" of completely bringing down the site, Vice director of the press office, Father Ciro Benedettini said.

He said Anonymous usually posts its signature banner on a website once it has completely taken it over, and its banner never appeared on the Holy See's online hub.

Anonymous said the attack was "in response to the doctrines, liturgies and the precepts, absurd and anachronistic that your organization is for profit (Roman Apostolic Church) propagates and spreads worldwide and while not targeting christians or christianity, it was targeting the "corrupt roman Apostolic Church"."

Anonymous also objected to the Catholic stance on abortion, and stated the non-use of contraceptives and clergy sexual abuse as motives for the attack.

In admitting a partial attack, Benedettini said the problem was solved in the evening after the attempted full attack.

Sources

• CNA
• Image: Jean Marc Morandini

"Anonymous has now decided to lay siege to your site in response to the doctrines, liturgies and the precepts absurd and anachronistic that your organization is for profit (Roman Apostolic Church) propagates and spreads worldwide," the hackers said in a statement translated by Google from the Italian.

"Every day many of the members of the clergy may be responsible of molesting children, covering them when the facts become public domain."

Anonymos also protested the doctrines, liturgies and absurd and anachronistic precepts.

The hackers also objected to the Church's stance against abortion and contraceptives.

"This is NOT intended to attack the Christian religion or against the faithful around the world, but to the corrupt Roman Apostolic Church and all its "emanations", the statement read.

Associated Press reported earlier yesterday Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi SJ confirming the website's unavailability but declining to comment on the source of the problem.

The action comes just one day after five alleged computer hackers in Britain, Ireland and the United States were charged on Tuesday in high-profile cyber-attacks after a leader of the group became an FBI informant.

Anonymous tried and failed to attach the Vatican website last year.

Sources

• The Networked World
• The Guardian
• Official Blog of Anonymous
• Official Blog of Anonymous - Translated by Google
• Image: International Business Times

It was money ear-marked to help out the homeless and abused women.

"You kind of have to take a deep breath and you have to trust in the Lord," Richard Pates said.

"Why would they do it in a particular time when we had the greatest amount of funds available?"

This heist is part of the latest wave of cyber-crime, based in Eastern Europe, targeting small towns, community banks and civic organisations that often lack high-tech defences.

Earlier this month the town of Pittford in New York was taken for NZ$170k and a New Jersey beach town lost NZ$725k.

The hackers get access to the accounts by sending an email to a vulnerable person, someone with access to the account and they ask whoever is helping run the organisation to click on a link that appears to come from a close friend or the likes of an official government organisation.

Clicking the link installs the malicious software bug that allows the hackers to steal bank passwords and transfer funds at will.

"You're seeing a lot of this type of crime get reported now," Ron Plesco, head of the National Cyber Forensics and Training Alliance in Pittsburgh, told CBS. "No doubt in my mind this is organized crime," he added.

The FBI says it opens one or two new cases of account takeover fraud a week.

St. Ambrose's losses eventually were covered by insurance and its bank.

Sources

• CBS News
• Image: Ian Under Cover