"#TangoDown #UGNazi #OpAntiGov http://cia.gov," he tweeted, following that message up with several retweets that credit UGNazi for the attack. The move is part of #OpAntiGov, a longstanding UG Nazi operation.

"Our goal is to show the government of the world we will not be censored by filthy government officials and money hungry companies," the group said of #OpAntiGov back in May. "The world government and multi-billion dollar companies have been trying to stop the movement of freedom since the day freedom was even invented."

This isn't the first time CIA.gov has experienced outages. Back in February, Anonymous appeared to take credit for launching a DDOS attack on the site. The hacktivist collective eventually clarified that they were just "reporting" the downtime.

(h/t Sam Biddle)

(Screencap: Twitter)

Anonymous announced its intention to "destroy" Westboro Baptist Church this weekend following news that the group would be picketing the funerals of children who died in Friday's horrific school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Now, infamous 15-year-old hacker Cosmo the God of the Underground Nazi Hacktivist Group (UGNazi) appears to have joined the fray. The Twitter account of much-reviled Westboro spokesperson Shirley Phelps-Roper has been hacked, and Cosmo is claiming responsibility. Ms. Phelps-Roper is the daughter of Fred Phelps, who is the head of the WBC.

Cosmo and the UG Nazi crew gained notoriety over the past year for hacking sites like 4chan, NASDAQ and CIA.gov, many of which they say were in protest of SOPA. Cosmo himself, who lives in Long Beach and turns 16 in March, is a famed teen hacker, and just last month was sentenced in juvenile court for felonies such as credit card theft and online impersonation. Placed on probation until his 21st birthday, Cosmo isn't allowed to use the Internet without consent from a parole officer or have any contact with members of Anonymous or UG Nazi.

If it's really him, clearly these actions against WBC would violate his parole. "COSMO? Cosmo THE GOD?" reads one tweet he retweeted. "I think this might be a violation of your parole, brah. #soworthit." Of course, there's a chance it's not actually him, and instead another hacker belonging to the UG Nazi crew or otherwise; we've reached out to Cosmo for confirmation.

Anonymous also continues its onslaught against WBC, with hacks ongoing throughout the night. One source within the collective told Betabeat that many Anons are considering showing up in Newtown as a counter-protest to WBC.

Update:

Cosmo has hacked another Westboro account, @WBCFredJr. Anonymous says they have also hacked into WBC's emails.