Cybercriminals claim to have attacked the UK’s National Crime Agency’s website, in revenge against the agency’s Operation Vivarium, which targeted internet attacks.

The infamous hacking group Lizard Squad, known for targeting Microsoft and Sony in attacks last year, has taken responsibility for the attack.

Through Operation Vivarium, the NCA targeted cyber crime. Last week the agency arrested six people for buying Lizard Squad’s cyberattack tool “Stressed Out” – code that makes it possible to break into websites.

The group has now executed its revenge for the arrests, it seems. The NCA website was down this morning, and Lizard Squad has tweeted a photo of a lizard in a top hat alongside a message reading, “Stressed out? http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/ #offline”.

https://twitter.com/LizardLands/status/638617494702399488

NCA has clarified on Twitter that the cyber attack against it “isn’t hacking, there’s been no intrusion”. Rather, Lizard Squad has executed a DDOS attack, crashing the agency's website by bombarding it with traffic.