Hacktivist group Anonymous has targeted the home Office, Number 10 and Ministry of Justice websites in protest of the extradition of alleged UK hackers to the US.

Anonymous claimed responsibility for the Denial-of-Service attacks this weekend, rendering the sites useless for over an hour. Twitter accounts affiliated with Anonymous hinted that the attacks came as a protest against the extradition Gary MacKinnon, who stands accused of hacking into the Pentagon's IT systems, and Richard O'Dwyer, who allegedly operated an illegal download link directory site, to the US.

The success of the attacks raises questions as to why the sites were so susceptible to hacking.