A group of hackers whose identities remain unknown gained unauthorized access to an e-mail server and sent messages to around 100 users claiming that an image published by the media from the recent protests in Dublin was fake.
The email account used by the perpetrators belonged to a director of a company based in the United Kingdom and was sent to the personal email addresses of journalists, business leaders and politicians in the Midwest regions of the country.
The image, which shows a young man throwing a brick at a police car, was published by the Independent.ie on Sunday night. The photo was taken by award-winning photographer Tony Gavin.
According to the website Campus.ie, as a result of the messages, the director of the British company was notified and an investigation was launched, revealing that the attackers used a machine in the Netherlands to carry out the attack.
Apparently, the image of the rioter throwing the brick at the police car had not been altered. However, one could be misled into believing the hackers, as the image published in the news also had an embedded snapshot depicting Irish police escorting Tanaiste Joan Burton, a member of the Labour Party, after she had been trapped in her car by protesters.
There is no further information about the attack incident, but it goes without saying that an experienced attacker can cause great damage to the image of a trustworthy individual.
Furthermore, the fact that the attackers had the personal addresses of key people suggests that this could be the work of a group of hacktivists .
