Russian hackers took down Maine.gov, the official website of the State of Maine. They also attacked New Hampshire's official website, visitnh.gov.
While the site was knocked offline, Maine's Secretary of State Matt Dunlap assured that it was not "hacked," and that information was not breached.
From the Bangor Daily News:
A hacker group using the Twitter handle Vikingdom2015 has claimed responsibility for taking down both maine.gov and New Hampshire’s visitnh.gov, although the latter site is now currently operating.
The same group has taken responsibility for what’s known as “Denial of Service” attacks on other government websites, such as Oklahoma City’s okc.gov.
http://t.co/pICnaONbU1 will be down for a while.
ENJOY
— Vikingdom2015 (@Vikingdom2015) March 23, 2015Twitter found it amusing that of all the 50 states, the hacker chose Maine, a relatively low-populated state known mostly for Stephen King novels and delicious lobster rolls. (Full disclosure: I was born and raised in Maine.)
REMEMBER THE MAINE.... DOT-GOV!!!
— GayPatriot (@GayPatriot) March 23, 2015
Is Maine like America's Crimea?
— Sarah Stevenson (@sarahrstevenson) March 23, 2015
Russian Hacker #1: "We need to hit one of their main states." Russian Hacker #2: "DUDE! ONE OF THEM IS CALLED MAINE!!"
— RB (@RBPundit) March 23, 2015
[Russian hackers] Lets take down America. Okay, where should we start? MAINE. Lets hit'em where it hurts.
— Matthew (@Matthops82) March 23, 2015
The site went back up shortly after noon, about an hour after it was attacked.
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