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 Websites operated by Planned Parenthood and its political branch,
Planned Parenthood Action, were clogged by a wide-scale "distributed
denial-of-service," or DDoS, attack, the organization said.
In such attacks, a web server is deliberately flooded with massive
amounts of data to block access from legitimate users.
Service was restored shortly after the attack, but the group opted
to keep its websites offline for the remainder of the day "to ensure
that we are fully protected," Dawn Laguens, executive vice president
of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a
statement.
Visitors to Planned Parenthood sites, which serve some 200,000
people a day seeking information on reproductive health, birth
control, sexually transmitted diseases, parenting, abortion and
other topics, were being redirected to its Facebook pages for the
time being, Laguens said.
The cyber attack, she said, "only shows how far opponents of safe
and legal abortion will go."
It was the second time in as many days Planned Parenthood's websites
were reported to have been breached by hackers.
The group said on Tuesday it had notified the FBI that "extremists
who oppose Planned Parenthood's mission and services" had launched
an attack on its information systems.
The group gave few details of that incident, except to say the
privacy and safety of its staff had been threatened. The Daily Dot
online newspaper reported that hackers had gained access to Planned
Parenthood's website databases and the names and email addresses of
its employees.
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The Daily Dot reported the hackers, who called themselves "social
justice warriors," said they planned to release the organization's
internal emails soon.
Planned Parenthood has undergone growing scrutiny in recent weeks
over two secretly recorded videos that critics said showed the group
was involved in the illegal sale of aborted fetal tissue for medical
research.
Planned Parenthood insists it has broken no laws because abortion
providers are allowed to charge costs to cover expenses associated
with fetal tissue donations. On Wednesday, the group called for a
blue-ribbon panel to review policies surrounding fetal tissue
research.
Senate Republicans are seeking to cut all federal funding, $500
million a year, that Planned Parenthood receives and redirect that
money to other providers of women's health.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Paul Tait)
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