The hackers’ actions so far have been essentially attacks by volume, known as DDoS, or distributed denial of service, in which the target site is hit with increased numbers of visitors with the intention of exceeding its capabilities and forcing it to crash. In this case, hundreds of volunteers have downloaded something called a botnet, which aids the distribution of the command to attack the site. The volunteer hackers wait until they are given a signal on an internet chat room, before launching the attack. The attacks are illegal in Britain and carry a maximum sentence of two years.