In the case of WBC, it remains unclear whether Anonymous caused the shutdown of the church site, or if it was simply a coincidence.

The original open letter to WBC dated Feb. 16 had warned church members to cease and desist in their protests and the "inimitable bigotry and intolerant fanaticism" they represented. A failure to comply would result in attacks against the church's Web site causing damage that "neither your institution nor your congregation will ever be able to fully recover," the letter had warned.

However, the news release from earlier this week downplayed the open letter and claimed it was a hoax. "Just because it was posted on AnonNews doesn't mean every single Anon is in agreement."

Jaikumar Vijayan covers data security and privacy issues, financial services security and e-voting for Computerworld. Follow Jaikumar on Twitter at , or subscribe to . His e-mail address is .

in Computerworld's Cybercrime and Hacking Topic Center.