“An unknown group launched a so-called ‘denial of service’ attack on Britain’s largest bank on Thursday evening, crashing web-based services for about seven hours.  At its peak, HSBC was deluged with internet traffic 500 times its normal level, five times higher than the amount of traffic that hit the bank in a similar attack earlier this year.  US financial group Capital 1 is also understood to have been hit by a similar denial of service attack at the same time as HSBC.  Several parties have claimed responsibility for the attacks, which have been linked to Islamic groups protesting against controversial film The Innocence of Muslims.”