Anonymous hackers arrested in Spain

 

Spanish Police last week reported that they had arrested a number of computer hackers who were suspected of committing high profile attacks on a number of international corporations and governments. Amongst these victims were Sony, who had the account details of 77 Million clients stolen from them, and who estimated the cost of these attacks to be more than $300 million.

The arrests were made in Almeria, Barcelona, and Valencia and are believed to be part of an international gang of hackers, referring to themselves only as 'Anonymous'. It is believed that they have coordinated themselves to perform a 'denial of service' attack on Sony's servers and break into its PlayStation Network, thereby causing widespread disruption.

The group openly claimed responsibility for the attack.

Other similar crimes committed by Anonymous include attacks made on victims such as MasterCard, the Governments of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Turkey, and a number of Banks. Sources in the press are also speculating that an attack has now been launched against the computer databases of the Spanish police in retaliation for the arrests.

Although few details have been released at this stage the three have all been released on bail pending trial, where they face a maximum sentence of just three years if convicted.