AnonPlus, the social network set up by anarcho-hacktivista collective Anonymous, has itself been hacked.

Affiliates of the group began to set up the site after profiles established by its members on Google+ were turfed out last week. Days later the pre-beta site was defaced by rival hackers in Turkey, who replaced the site's front page with the image of a dog wearing a suit, a joke version of the standard Anonymous logo, together with a message (below) mocking the group in Turkish and English.

We Are TURKIYE We Are AKINCILAR This logo suits you more ... How dare you rise against to the World ... Do you really think that you are Ottoman Empire? We thought you before that you cannot challenge with the world and we teach you cannot be social Now all of you go to your doghouse ...

The tactics used to pull off the hack are unknown but most likely involved either easily exploited site vulnerabilities or sloppy password security: just the sort of slipup Anonymous has been criticising big business for, through its ongoing AntiSec campaign. It's unlikely any personal data was exposed, not least because the site is purely in development at present.

The motives of the attack are not exactly clear but this may be a patriot-hacker response for Anonymous operations in Turkey earlier this summer, Gizmodo suspects. Developers behind AnonPlus had a few choice words for Turkish hackers dismissing them, among other things, as "snobby, arrogant, IGNORANT little fucking children" in a counter-rant.

Anonymous has been active in Turkey, attacking government websites in protest against controversial internet filtering plans back in June. Turkish police arrested 32 suspects days later. ®