The Motion Picture Association of America's (MPAA) Web site was hit with a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack Friday that was reportedly orchestrated by hacker Web site 4chan.

"The MPAA learned of the illegal threat on Friday and has taken measures to mitigate the effects of any denial of service attack," an MPAA spokesman said in an e-mail.

The Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) site was also reportedly attacked, but a spokeswoman declined comment.

The attacks were part of a larger effort, dubbed Operation Payback, which - according to TorrentFreak - is essentially retribution for the RIAA and MPAA going after Web sites that distribute copyrighted content and users who download illegal copies of movies or songs. The 4chan attacks also reportedly included the Web site for Indian company Aiplex Software, which was hired by the film industry to launch its own attacks on Web sites that did not respond to the MPAA's takedown notices.

"Aiplex, the bastard hired gun that DDoS'd [The Pirate Bay] is already down!" according to a 4chan screen shot captured by Torrent Freak. "Now we have our lasers primed, but what do we target now? We target the bastard group that has thus far led this charge against our Web sites, like The Pirate Bay. We target MPAA.org!"

"We have the manpower, we have the botnets, it's time we do to them what they keep doing to us," the site continued.

The MPAA attack went off at 9pm Eastern on Friday, and a similar attack reportedly hit the RIAA over the weekend. 4chan was rumored to be setting its sights on the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) next; a BPI spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.