Internet "hacktivist" group Anonymous was the target of a bevy of early morning raids conducted at homes in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and Ohio. FBI agents used search warrants to obtain computers and other electronics from the residences and arrested a total of 16 individuals with ages ranging from teens all the way to early 40s. Along with legal names, the indictment also notes screen names and internet monikers used by the group to communicate anonymously.
These arrests were just part of a total of 35 search warrants which were executed today as part of the ongoing investigation into the security-threatening hacking activities of the Anonymous collective. Among its various exploits, the brigade of cyber spies has been implicated in attacks on everyone from Sony to the federal government. The group has also executed web-based attacks on major credit card companies including Mastercard and Visa.
According to a press release from the Department of Justice, today's arrests focused primarily on Anonymous members who waged a cyber war on PayPal. Anonymous was allegedly inspired to hack the online payment company in "Operation Avenge Assange" after Paypal refused to accept donations for Wikileaks, the well-known whistleblower site headed by Julian Assange.
Anonymous' hacker cohorts, LulzSec, have taken aim at the CIA, as well as the Arizona Police Department in an effort to expose racial discrimination. Yesterday, LulzSec took credit for an attack on Rupert Murdoch's U.K. tabloid The Sun. A website redirect sent readers to a fake Sun page announcing the embattled media mogul's death from a drug overdose.
Murdoch's media empire has come under fierce scrutiny after it was revealed that journalists at the News of the World tabloid hacked into the voicemail accounts of prominent U.K. citizens. In addition to assailing one of the News Corp. sites head-on, LulzSec also claims to have a bounty of sensitive emails that will shed further light on the organization's less-than-honest tactics.
It wasn't immediately clear whether any of today's arrests also included members of LulzSec, but the group's Twitter feed appears to be as lively as ever. Today's actions clearly show that the federal government is no longer content to sit by while hackers have their run of the internet, but it's likely that Anonymous will respond in short order.
--
Will not remove this line of my signature until the Seahawks, Jazz or Rockies win a title (Started 5-16-09) I know I'm not getting rid of this signature, BTW.
TheOceIot posted... Good news, but I can imagine that this will just fuel anonymous even more.
Depends.
While it will probably fire up the more serious members, I can imagine that a good amount of them will talk a big game, but be terrified that if they participate in anything big, they'll also be taken in. It could really go either way.
-- I like how each new topic you make reveals such varied facets of your idiocy. - foolmo Now this is entertainment!
From: Biolizard28 | #002 Hopefully that Murdoch stuff doesn't get swept under the rug
It's swept under the rug in that very article. It gets a sentence+ mention towards the bottom of the story.
Also Anonymous is not the same group of hackers that devoted themselves to being dicks by taking down services and leaking peoples' credit card numbers. That was LulzSec. Anonymous was mostly activists, causing trouble for governments that tried to censor the internet and the like.
-- Ace Detective in Sir Chris' Police http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/1132/ss02b.jpg
Rad Link 5 posted... From: Biolizard28 | #002 Hopefully that Murdoch stuff doesn't get swept under the rug It's swept under the rug in that very article. It gets a sentence+ mention towards the bottom of the story.
Also Anonymous is not the same group of hackers that devoted themselves to being dicks by taking down services and leaking peoples' credit card numbers. That was LulzSec. Anonymous was mostly activists, causing trouble for governments that tried to censor the internet and the like.
Aren't Anonymous the ones that targeted sites like Yahoo and Paypal just because they wouldn't support Wikileaks, even though it was perfectly in their rights to do so.
You know, something that hurts innocent people.
-- SEP Nash, Smelling Like the Vault since 1996 Step FOUR! Get Paid! http://img.imgcake.com/stevenashgifpu.gif
Also Anonymous is not the same group of hackers that devoted themselves to being dicks by taking down services and leaking peoples' credit card numbers. That was LulzSec. Anonymous was mostly activists, causing trouble for governments that tried to censor the internet and the like.
Didn't they join together or something like that?
--
Pokemon VGC2011 NW Regional - Top 8 Pokemon VGC2011 US Nationals - 54th place
From: StealThisSheen | #009 Aren't Anonymous the ones that targeted sites like Yahoo and Paypal just because they wouldn't support Wikilinks, even though it was perfectly in their rights to do so.
You know, something that hurts innocent people.
Yup. They're not the only people to protest something at the expense of innocent people. Hell, unions do it all the time.
I'm just saying, they're not the ones who took down PSN and released everyone's credit card information just for fun.
-- Ace Detective in Sir Chris' Police http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/9458/daigohair.png
I've only used Paypal a few times (With SEP both times, no less), so I can't speak for most people, but I've never had any problems.
--
Will not remove this line of my signature until the Seahawks, Jazz or Rockies win a title (Started 5-16-09) I know I'm not getting rid of this signature, BTW.
From: OmarsComin | #001 Yesterday, LulzSec took credit for an attack on Rupert Murdoch's U.K. tabloid The Sun. A website redirect sent readers to a fake Sun page announcing the embattled media mogul's death from a drug overdose.
Didn't LulzSec disband like two or three weeks ago?
Rad Link 5 posted... From: StealThisSheen | #009 Aren't Anonymous the ones that targeted sites like Yahoo and Paypal just because they wouldn't support Wikilinks, even though it was perfectly in their rights to do so.
You know, something that hurts innocent people. Yup. They're not the only people to protest something at the expense of innocent people. Hell, unions do it all the time.
I'm just saying, they're not the ones who took down PSN and released everyone's credit card information just for fun.
I don't think LulzSec ever claimed to be behind the PSN hacking.
--
"It's a magical world, Hobbes ol' buddy...let's go exploring!" - Calvin http://img.imgcake.com/calvinfinalpngpy.png
Shame. That Wikileaks thing was stupid enough that I have to be on Anonymous's side for that one.
--
"As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero." -Vaarsuvius, Order of the Stick
The only reason Anon does what it does is because they feel they are bulletproof, nobody can touch them. If members start getting slammed with jail time or something, proving that they aren't invulnerable and there will be repercussions for the stupid things that they do, then they will die off for sure.
--
The batman villians all seem to be one big joke that batman refuses to laugh at - SantaRPG
I'm not surprised a few of them were too stupid to cover their tracks properly but 16? you'd think they'd be more careful given some of the high risk stuff they get themselves involved in. they should be thankful the FBI tracked them down before some of their more dangerous enemies did
for that matter they should be thankful they were arrested and will be brought to trial, they could technically qualify as terrorists(it is a vague term) and we do make a habit of kidnapping suspected terrorists and sending them to foreign prisons without trial.
From: CalvinbalI | #020 I don't think LulzSec ever claimed to be behind the PSN hacking.
They did. They even released the information from the hacks on their website, and said that Sony's security was so paper-thing that they got in using a simple injection-something something or other. They not only took credit, they said it was easy as pie.
-- Ace Detective in Sir Chris' Police http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/5260/belikemommy.jpg
Yeah that's pretty dumb. I think what PP did was silly but it's their right as a business to do what they want, hacking them is not a reasonable response to disagreeing with their policies.
From: Rad Link 5 | #028 They did. They even released the information from the hacks on their website, and said that Sony's security was so paper-thing that they got in using a simple injection-something something or other. They not only took credit, they said it was easy as pie.
I'm pretty sure that was a different Sony hacking, of a different department than the Playstation Network. Sony Pictures or Music, I thinl. Nobody has stepped forward to claim the BIG one.
--
A hare like me couldn't catch up to Black Turtle.
LulzSec was not the group that initially infiltrated PSN. LulzSec did take advantage of a security breach created elsewhere to do much more to it, however. You could say that LulzSec is the reason that PSN was taken down as opposed to corrected on the fly.
--
Digi Why does everyone think that my dads are gay?