Sixteen people arrested in connection with hacking Anonymous groupJuly 20, 2011 - 13:19 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Sixteen people were arrested in the United States in connection with hacking attacks by the Anonymous group of online activists, as well as one person in the U.K. and four people in the Netherlands, the U.S. Department of Justice said, reports CNET News. An indictment filed last week in San Jose, Calif., names 14 people accused of conspiring to intentionally damage protected computers at PayPal last December in retribution for PayPal suspending WikiLeaks' account to prevent supporters from donating to the whistleblower site. The arrests of the defendants, who range in age from 20 to 42, followed the execution of more than 35 search warrants throughout the country by the FBI as part of its investigation into hacking attacks coordinated by the Anonymous online activist group, officials said. More than 75 searches have taken place in the U.S. to date as part of the investigations, the Justice Department said. As part of "Operation Payback," Anonymous organized a distributed denial-of-service attack that shut down PayPal's site, as well as that of Visa and MasterCard. PayPal cut WikiLeaks off citing violations of its terms of service after WikiLeaks released a large amount of classified U.S. State Department cables in late November. The decentralized Anonymous collective has been targeting computer attacks on government and corporate Web sites and Sony, as well as government sites in Egypt, Turkey, and Tunisia. Anonymous often issues warnings and statements saying the attacks are done to protest Internet censorship and alleged government corruption or corporate malfeasance. Previously, there were dozens of arrests globally related to the investigations into hacking attacks by Anonymous. A 16-year-old was arrested late last year in the Netherlands for the DDoS attacks on payment companies that stopped enabling WikiLeaks to receive donations. That was followed by five arrests in the U.K. and 40 search warrants carried out in the U.S. in January. In June, three people were arrested in Spain for an attack on a Spanish government site (a Spanish police site was then attacked in retaliation), and 32 people were arrested in Turkey a few days later. Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | Ameriabank's Trade Finance portfolio enriched with four prestigious awards from EBRD and IFC Ameriabank received the awards from international financial institutions in recognition of its trade finance operations. Armenian Economy Minister to make trip to UAE May 20-22 A delegation led by Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan will travel to the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi on May 20-22 Armenia Security Council chief traveling to Qatar Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan will travel on a working visit to Qatar. Pillars installed in Armenian border village of Kirants In the Armenian village of Kirants, three border markers have been installed, and border guards stand next to them. |