The official website of TMT or Thirty Meter Telescope, an organization that is currently working to construct one of the biggest telescopes in the world in Hawaii, got disrupted temporarily after a group of hackers attacked it on Sunday.
For those who don’t know: TMT is looking to build the telescope on the Mauna Kea peak in Hawaii’s Big Island.
Luckily, the disruption was a temporary one and the website was found to be in perfect shape by Sunday evening; reports suggest that it was down for around two hours.
Caroline Witherspoon, a spokesperson representing Thirty Meter Telescope, confirmed the cyber attack; but, she couldn’t provide any information about individuals or entities responsible for the hack.
However, a website called Operation Green Rights that claims to have links with a hacker group called Anonymous posted some pictures on its page and claimed that it is the group responsible for the hack.
TMT’s website reportedly was not the only victim of such an attack. Reports about a state-owned website getting disrupted also surfaced; however, like the TMT website, that state-owned website is also currently operational.
On the page of Operations Green Rights, you will find screenshots of both the main website of Thirty Meter Telescope and the official website of the state government of Hawaii.
A message has also been posted on the page of the group; the summary of the message is: nothing can justify destruction of our ecosystems; it’s impossible to replace them with filthy money. The group urged people in the state to raise their voice against Thirty Meter Telescope. The message was accompanied by the hashtag “#wearemaunakea”.
This is not the first time anyone is talking against the construction of telescope on the highest peak in Hawaii. A few days back, we saw the locals protesting against this construction pretty actively.
Earlier in April, the protest got extremely intense and as many as 31 protestors were arrested. It is said that the protest is primarily because the natives believe that it’s a sacred land. It’s, however, unlikely that this cyber attack and the protest by locals will be able to change the plans of the people behind this construction.
