A battle among hackers erupted on the Internet as some factions disrupted a loosely coordinated "contest" among other groups trying to vandalize thousands of Web sites around the world.
Unknown attackers knocked offline for most of Sunday an independent security Web site, zone-h.org, that was verifying reports of online vandalism and being used by hackers to tally points for the competition. U.S. government and private technology experts warned last week that such vandalism was likely.
At least three such vigilante-style attacks forced the hacker organizer, who identified himself only as "Eleonora67," to extend the contest until 6 p.m. EDT Sunday. But with disruptions preventing vandals from claiming credit for their break-ins, some experts said it could be later this week before damage from this weekend's hacking would be known.
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