Mastercard, Visa Targeted

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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The corporate websites of Visa and MasterCard were inaccessible at times Wednesday due to an apparent cyberattack by purported Wikileaks backers.

Messages posted on Twitter indicated the attacks maybe be in response to recent moves by Visa and Mastercard against WikiLeaks, the website that recently released thousands of secret U.S. State Department documents.

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"The issue appears to be the result of a concentrated effort to flood our corporate website with traffic and slow access," said MasterCard spokesman James Issokson, in a prepared statement. "We are working to restore normal service levels."

Issokson said the hack attack did not affect the use of credit cards or financial security. The networks used to run credit card transactions operate independently from corporate websites.

"Visa's processing network, which handles cardholder transactions, is functioning normally and cardholders can continue to use their cards as they routinely would. Account data is not at risk," Visa spokesman Ted Carr said in a statement.

Carr added that Visa.com is experiencing "higher than normal" traffic and that the company is taking steps to restore the site to full operations within the next few hours.

The action against Visa comes after Visa Europe, a division of Visa, stopped accepting payments for WikiLeaks.

"Visa Europe has taken action to temporarily suspend Visa payment acceptance on WikiLeaks' website pending investigation into whether it contravenes Visa operating rules, including compliance with local laws in the markets where we operate," said Visa, in a prepared statement.

Supporters of WikiLeaks claimed to have launched the cyberattack in retaliation for MasterCard's (MA, Fortune 500) refusal to accept credit cards on the WikiLeaks site.

Issokson wouldn't comment on allegations of who was behind the attack. But on Tuesday, MasterCard said it was "working to suspend the acceptance of MasterCard cards on WikiLeaks."
0:00 /:59MasterCard's $1 billion stock buyback

On Twitter, a post from a handle called Anon_Operation took responsibility for the attacks, tweeting about its so-called Operation Payback: "We are glad to tell you that [Mastercard.com] is down and it's confirmed. Operation: Payback (is a bitch!)"

Just before the apparent attack on Visa, the same alias posted: "TARGET: WWW.VISA.COM :: FIRE FIRE FIRE!!! WEAPONS."

There was no immediate confirmation that whoever was behind the handle was responsible for the attack.

The website for PayPal was also the subject of an "attempted DDoS [denial-of-service] attack" in recent days, though the site remained operational, according to PayPal spokeswoman Charlotte Hill.

"These attacks have at times slowed the website itself down, but have not significantly impacted payments," she said.

Hill confirmed that this happened after PayPal denied service to WikiLeaks.

PostFinance, a Swiss bank, also had problems with its website on Tuesday, when it announced that the site was "overloaded owing to a multitude of online enquiries."

This happened the day after PostFinance announced that it closed the account of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for having "provided false information regarding his place of residence when opening the account."

The PostFinance website was back up Wednesday.

Credit.com reported, on its blog, that credit card companies and financial firms were making it difficult for supporters to funnel cash to WikiLeaks.

"With such major players cutting off its access to funds, the financial pressure on WikiLeaks appears to be mounting," wrote Credit.com on its blog. "The site can accept donations through DataCell, a Swiss credit card company, and through bank transfers to accounts in Germany and Iceland, though the decision by Visa and MasterCard to block transfers may make it difficult for those channels to remain open."

DataCell reported Wednesday that MasterCard and Visa payments were being rejected in its "donation system" through the WikiLeaks website. DataCell said it was taking "immediate legal actions to make donations possible again."

"The suspension of payments towards WikiLeaks is a violation of the agreements with their customers," said DataCell, in its news release. "This does clearly create massive financial losses to WikiLeaks which seems to be the only purpose of this suspension."

quote Paradox

Oh and guess who backed the Wikileaks supporters and guess which site organized it all?

Anonymous and 4chan >>

quote Ecto

quote Paradox

Oh and guess who backed the Wikileaks supporters and guess which site organized it all?

Anonymous and 4chan >>

I would like to see a source on this. This doesn't sound like 4chan's style in the least.

quote Ecto

quote Paradox

Oh and guess who backed the Wikileaks supporters and guess which site organized it all?

Anonymous and 4chan >>

I would like to see a source on this. This doesn't sound like 4chan's style in the least.

quote ZL

Wow, WikiLeaks is acting like a bunch of *bleep*ing teenagers.

quote nani17

quote DC Sniper

quote nani17

Don't you see wikileaks is working with kim jong-un and they're trying to take down Americas economy

Sorry pal, Kim doesn't need to do that, we did it years ago.

lol no he's out to get them him,wikileaks,bin laden,russia,china,Iran,Iraq,Afghanistan,obama, cnn howard stern the list is endless