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UPDATE 2-Spain arrests Anonymous members over Sony attack
* Spanish police arrest 3 suspected Anonymous "hactivists"
* Suspects accused of attacking websites of Sony, banks
* Spanish police say further arrests may follow (Recasts making clear police did not link to big PlayStation attacks; adds comment from Anonymous, details throughout, BOSTON dateline, byline)
By Iciar Paneda and Jim Finkle
MADRID/BOSTON, June 10 (Reuters) - Spanish police arrested three men suspected to be members of the hacker group Anonymous on Friday, charging them with organizing cyber attacks against the websites of Sony Corp (6758.T), banks and governments -- but not the recent massive hacking of PlayStation gamers.
Anonymous responded by threatening to retaliate for the arrests: "We are Legion, so EXPECT US," the group said on its official Twitter feed.
Spanish police alleged the three "hacktivists" helped organize an attack that temporarily shuttered access to some Sony websites. They were not linked to two massive cyber attacks against Sony's Playstation Network that resulted in the theft of information from more than 100 million customers.
Police also accused the men of launching cyber assaults on Spanish banks BBVA (BBVA.MC) and Bankia, and Italian energy group Enel SpA (ENEI.MI).
The arrests are the first in Spain against alleged members of Anonymous, following the detention of others in the United States and Britain. Police told Reuters all three men were Spanish and in their 30s. One worked in the merchant navy.
Anonymous is a loose grouping of self-proclaimed hactivists who frequently try to shut down the websites of businesses and other organizations that it opposes.
Its members describe themselves as Internet freedom fighters and have previously brought down websites of the Church of Scientology, as well as Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O), MasterCard Inc (MA.N) and others they saw as hostile to WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange.
Anonymous members cripple websites by overwhelming them with traffic in what is commonly known as "denial of service" attacks. The group publicizes these campaigns on the Web, giving supporters the information to attack a targeted site.
The group is currently sponsoring attacks to shut down Turkish government websites in a protest against Internet censorship. Attempts to reach the group by email were not immediately successful.
To date, the group has not been linked to crimes for financial profit.
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Sony PlayStation recovery delayed in Asia [ID:nL3E7GV08P]
Turkey comes under attack from Anonymous [ID:nLDE75825A]
In the chatroom with the cyber guerillas [ID:nLDE70I121]
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Spanish police said the accused, who were arrested in Almeria, Barcelona and Alicante, were guilty of coordinated computer hacking attacks from a server set up in a house in Gijon in the north of Spain.
The Spanish police said members of Anonymous, known for wearing Guy Fawkes masks made popular by the graphic novel "V for Vendetta," had also hacked government sites in Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Iran, Chile, Colombia and New Zealand.
"They are structured in independent cells and make thousands of simultaneous attacks using infected 'zombie' computers worldwide. This is why NATO considers them a threat to the military alliance," the police said in a statement.
"They are even capable of collapsing a country's administrative structure."
The police did not rule out further arrests.
Sony PlayStation spokesman Dan Race declined to comment on the arrests on Friday. (Additional reporting by Diane Bartz in Washington and Liana B. Baker in New York; Writing by Nigel Davies and Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Fiona Ortiz, David Holmes, Gary Hill)
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I know four in the USA were sentenced, but another bunch were arrested in UK months ago. How many were convicted there?
Anonymous are just another bunch of criminals. They seem motivated only by the desire to make others angry. They ruin businesses, attack charities or individuals’ reputations, all with equal disregard for others’ investments or feelings.
What YOU can do to help thwart cyber-criminals is make sure everyone you know has a good commercial (meaning “paid for”) antivirus and turns on its “Automatic updates.” Get a firewall, too. Often both come in one suite.
THE WAY Anonymous get “zombie computers” into their network is to take over those with no or inadequate virus protections.
1.Anonymous’s creed is to support the people and free speech.
2.Anonymous uses a DDos attack which is not affected by virus protection and can easily get by a weak pathetic excuse for a firewall unless you are willing to pay thousands of dollars per month for an exceptional firewall. This is still no match for their DDos attack. (take Sony and government websites for example)
3. NONE have been convicted as of what i last heard, only charged. Most of the charges against hackers are dealt with out of court (and are more than likely hired as a government hacker {yes we have these})
4. Government official websites use many firewalls so the sky is most definitely not the highest point for Anonymous (meaning a virus and firewall protected system will suffer the same fate).
I do not agree with the way Anonymous decides to dis out punishment for violations against free speech. I am in no way a part of Anonymous. I have just been following the stories and amazed at how when people come together what they can accomplish.
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