The Government is on red alert to ward off an expected cyber attack when Wikileaks founder Julian Assange appears in court today.
The Wikileaks frontman’s lawyers are expected to make a second bail application following his arrest over sex offence allegations in Sweden.
Officials are increasingly concerned that Britain is now a major target for “hacktivists” that feel the UK is treating the whistle-blower unfairly following his arrest and bail rejection last week.
Following attacks on MasterCard, Visa and other companies perceived to be against Wikileaks, the UK’s top security advisor Sir Peter Ricketts warned all government departments to be prepared to handle denial of service attacks of the kind carried out by hacker group Anonymous.
According to reports, officials are particularly concerned that hackers could target government systems that contain people’s personal details, such as the Department of Works and Pensions.
“My understanding is that the National Security Adviser has spoken to permanent secretaries about the security of Government websites,” a spokesperson for the DWP told the Daily Telegraph.
“Obviously the priority there would be websites where we are dealing with information that belongs to members of the public,” he added.
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