bassethound
29-02-12, 14:29
A reported 25 suspected members of hacker group Anonymous were arrested overnight across Europe and South America, according to Interpol.
The international police agency released a statement saying that the arrests were part of Operation Unmask, which was launched in mid-February.
The suspects, aged between 17 and 40, are believed to have planned "co-ordinated cyber-attacks" against various institutions, including Colombia's defence ministry and presidential websites, Chile's Endesa electricity company and a national library.
Interpol handed information to national law enforcement officers in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Spain, under the aegis of its Latin American IT crime group.
Around 250 items of IT equipment and mobile phones were seized during the raids of 40 premises across 15 cities during the operation. Officers also took payment cards and cash as part of "continuing investigations into the funding of illegal activities".
"This operation shows that crime in the virtual world does have real consequences for those involved, and that the internet cannot be seen as a safe haven for criminal activity, no matter where it originates or where it is targeted," said Bernd Rossbach, Acting Interpol executive director of police services.
Interpol said that four of the suspected 25 hackers were arrested in Spain in connection with attacks on Spanish political party websites, including denial-of-service attacks, which typically take the site offline.
The agency said that one of these individuals included the alleged manager of Anonymous' computer operations in Spain and Latin America, identified only by the aliases "Thunder" and "Pacotron".
The police statement also said that two servers used by the group in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic have been blocked.
Anonymous is a loosely organised group of computer hackers that is becoming increasingly political, taking up causes ranging from the battle against drug gangs in Mexico to the closure of filesharing site Megaupload in the US.
Authorities in Europe and North America have already made dozens of arrests against suspected members of the group, leading to retaliation attacks against government and law enforcement online services.
Following the arrests last night, a Twitter account associated with Anonymous' Brazilian operation posted: "Interpol, you can't take Anonymous. It's an idea."
The international police agency released a statement saying that the arrests were part of Operation Unmask, which was launched in mid-February.
The suspects, aged between 17 and 40, are believed to have planned "co-ordinated cyber-attacks" against various institutions, including Colombia's defence ministry and presidential websites, Chile's Endesa electricity company and a national library.
Interpol handed information to national law enforcement officers in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Spain, under the aegis of its Latin American IT crime group.
Around 250 items of IT equipment and mobile phones were seized during the raids of 40 premises across 15 cities during the operation. Officers also took payment cards and cash as part of "continuing investigations into the funding of illegal activities".
"This operation shows that crime in the virtual world does have real consequences for those involved, and that the internet cannot be seen as a safe haven for criminal activity, no matter where it originates or where it is targeted," said Bernd Rossbach, Acting Interpol executive director of police services.
Interpol said that four of the suspected 25 hackers were arrested in Spain in connection with attacks on Spanish political party websites, including denial-of-service attacks, which typically take the site offline.
The agency said that one of these individuals included the alleged manager of Anonymous' computer operations in Spain and Latin America, identified only by the aliases "Thunder" and "Pacotron".
The police statement also said that two servers used by the group in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic have been blocked.
Anonymous is a loosely organised group of computer hackers that is becoming increasingly political, taking up causes ranging from the battle against drug gangs in Mexico to the closure of filesharing site Megaupload in the US.
Authorities in Europe and North America have already made dozens of arrests against suspected members of the group, leading to retaliation attacks against government and law enforcement online services.
Following the arrests last night, a Twitter account associated with Anonymous' Brazilian operation posted: "Interpol, you can't take Anonymous. It's an idea."