CIA official seal
CIA official sealIsrael news photo: Official CIA website

The self-acclaimed anarchist “Anonymous” group hacked the CIA website Friday one day after threatening to launch a crusade against Israel and defend Iran.  

"CIA Tango down," a member of Anonymous said on a Twitter feed, referring to the phrase used by the U.S. Special Forces after killing an enemy.

The Central Intelligence Agency website was knocked off the web in Friday but resumed operations Saturday, and government officials said the website was not accessed and was not compromised. Although the hacking attack did not create and direct damage to the CIA, it embarrassed it intelligence agency, which has boasted its site was invincible to hackers.

A cyber attack on a website is not difficult to stage because the hackers simply bombard a targeted site with so many requests that the website cannot function properly.

Last week, Anonymous released a video on YouTube, accusing Israel of "crimes against humanity” and of bettering "the lives of a select few, while carelessly trampling the liberties of the masses."

Anonymous also made it clear it is bent on defending Iran saying, "...we will not allow you to attack a sovereign country based upon a campaign of lies."

The group then vowed to stop Israel's "reign of terror" through a staged cyber-insurgency. "Step one will be initiated after the release of this video and will be comprised of systematically removing you from the Internet," the group claimed.

"Step two will be later disclosed and is already in initiation; and, as for step three, well, think of this one as a present from Anonymous to you - we will not stop until the police state becomes a free state. We are Anonymous, we are legion, we do not forgive, we do not forget. Israeli government, expect us.”