BBC Website Down, Simple Tech Error or Malicious Attack?

Earlier today the BBC News website went down, and they had one creepy clown image accompanying the error message.

Here is what the error message said:

“This might be because:

We are experiencing abnormal traffic to our network or
the service or servers it is on is not currently available.

Please try the following options instead:

Try again later once we have solved the problem.
Use our site index”

The curious thing about the clown used in the image is its striking similarity to the one used by BBC when the TV station is off air, as seen here.

With all the recent news about Jeremy Clarkson being suspended, and Anonymous‘ threat to take down the site if he wasn’t re-instated, speculations are wild as to what actually happened.

Source: Mirror