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Nauru, a tiny, Pacific island nation with fewer than 10,000 people and $60 million to its name, recently found itself under cyberattack by Anonymous, the informal “hacktivist” collective best known for its raids on targets such as Paypal, the U.S. Copyright Office and the Church of Scientology.But the weekend hack, which took down the country’s official government Web site and national Internet provider, had nothing to do with Nauru’s politics. Instead, the blows were aimed at nearby Australia and its controversial treatment of so-called boat people, the undocumented, Australia-bound asylum-seekers who pay huge sums to be smuggled across the ocean by boat.Under current Australian immigration law, the “boat people” are routed to refugee centers on Nauru and Papua New Guinea for processing. Their wait can stretch indefinitely, and humanitarian groups have complained that asylum-seekers are kept in inhumane conditions. On Friday, frustrated refugees on Nauru rioted, destroying a new processing center and causing a reported $60 million in damages. Anonymous’s cyberattack was meant as a show of solidarity, one group member told the Guardian.But while Anonymous may prove a bit of a vexation to the Nauruan government — as of Wednesday afternoon, its Web site was still not online — asylum-seekers pose a much more intricate and long-term dilemma for Australia. Here’s a chart showing the recent surge in seabound arrivals from abroad:
