April 10, Bloomberg – (International) Anonymous blamed for attacks on technology group websites. Two technology trade associations said they were targeted by the hacker-activist group Anonymous as it singled out supporters of proposed legislation to improve U.S. cybersecurity. Anonymous claimed credit for denial-of-service assaults on the TechAmerica and USTelecom Web sites, according to the associations representing companies including IBM, Apple, and AT&T. Such offensives typically involve flooding a Web site with traffic, causing it to crash. The organizations said the attacks amount to reprisal for supporting the legislation, among cybersecurity bills under consideration by Congress, designed to encourage companies and government agencies to voluntarily share information about cyber threats. Users could not connect to the Web site for USTelecom, which represents telephone companies led by AT&T, Verizon, and CenturyLink, starting April 8 and the site was “up and down” April 9 as technicians worked to restore service, said a spokeswoman. The Web site of TechAmerica, whose members include IBM, Microsoft, and Apple, was not loading April 9. The attack began April 8 and the association was working April 9 to get the site back up, a TechAmerica spokeswoman said. The trade groups support cybersecurity legislation introduced by the chairman and ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee.