Spain nabs 3 suspected of global cyber attacks

MADRID – Spanish police arrested three suspected computer hackers who allegedly belonged to a loose-knit international activist group that has attacked corporate and government websites around the world, authorities said Friday.

A National Police statement identified the three detainees as leaders of the Spanish section of a group that calls itself "Anonymous."

A computer server in one of their homes was used to coordinate and carry out the cyber attacks on targets including two major Spanish banks, the Italian energy company Enel and the governments of Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Iran, Chile, Colombia and New Zealand, the statement said.

The statement said the only other countries to act against "Anonymous" so far are the United States and Britain. It attributed this what it called complex security measures that members use to protect their identity.

The suspects in Spain were arrested in Barcelona, Valencia and the southern city of Almeria, the statement said without specifying when the detainees were picked up.

Since October 2010, Spanish police specializing in cyber crime have analyzed more than two million lines of online chat and Internet pages until they finally zeroed in on the three suspects. Their names were not given.

In January, British police arrested five young males on suspicion of involvement in cyber attacks by Anonymous, which has backed WikiLeaks.

"Anonymous" has claimed responsibility for attacking the websites of companies such as Visa, Mastercard and Paypal, all of whom severed their links with WikiLeaks after it began publishing its massive trove of secret U.S. diplomatic memos.

"Anonymous" accused the companies of trying to stifle WikiLeaks and rallied an army of online supporters to flood their servers with traffic, periodically blocking access to their sites for hours at a time.

And in February, an Internet forum run by "Anonymous" directed participants to attack the websites of the Egyptian Ministry of Information and the ruling National Democratic Party.

In a Twitter post, the group claimed credit for taking down the ministry's website and said the group was motivated by a desire to support Egyptian pro-democracy protesters.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110610/ap_on_hi_te/eu_spain_cyber_attacks

i hope the fbi piss on them

It would actually be nice if they just rounded them up and gave them to the Egyptian and Libyan leadership so they could have loads of fun with them.

Just try to keep anonymous when you drop the soap guys, hopefully it will work out this time around.

They are working for freedom of the people with no benefit for themselves whatsoever, but look at the response from the people. I guess you shouldn't expect much from a gaming site.

I don't know what the governments of said countries would do, but rational people of those countries support them.

@michael_stutzer

What? They are breaking the law. Attacking major coorporations, flooding servers, blocking websites is not acceptable any way you look at it.

They may have 'good' intentions, but their methods are harmful, unacceptable, and illegal.

They got what they deserved. Hopefully they can formulate less harmful plans to meet their wishes

Cool, let's hope that more are arrested in the future

Oh yea, we gotta forget that major corporations like Enron were destroying the environment or helping wipe people retirement legally so it is perfectly ok! Screw whatever activists do! It's all about what is legally right! In fact,let's go back to the middle ages when kings get to decide what's legal or not, that'll make it so much easier on us trying to decide that's morally or legally right!

You do realize what Enron  was doing was illegal....and the Exec committed suicide cause of it right

Great news.