GreenNet is a not-for-profit Internet service provider based in London, England. It was established in 1985 "as an effective and cheap way for environmental activists to communicate". In 1987 the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust gave GreenNet a grant to enable it to bring a large number of peace groups online, and "After a few years they became one of the first internet service providers in Britain". GreenNet was a founder member of the Association for Progressive Communications, established in 1990. The registered charity GreenNet Charitable Trust was established in 1994 and owns GreenNet.
GreenNet developed a Fido gateway, GnFido, which allowed access to basic internet facilities such as email using a store and forward system. It provided the only available cheap and accessible internet access for thousands of individuals and organisations in Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe.
2013 DDoS Attack
Beginning at 10.15 BST on Thursday 1 August 2013 GreenNet and the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) suffered an extensive DDoS attack. The attack was later described as a "DNS reflection attack" also known as a spoofed attack Several sources initially suspected the attack was linked to the Zimbabwean Elections, held a day earlier. GreenNet's services were not fully operational again until 10.30 BST on Thursday 7 August. On 9 August there was a second attack, which, while affecting some systems, allowed GreenNet to discover the site which was being targeted. In October 2013, the target was revealed to be the site of investigative reporter Andrew Jennings.