Hacked off
Five men thought to be part of hacktivist group Anonymous have been arrested in connection with the DDoS attacks in support of WikiLeaks.
The Police have nicked 5 men aged between 15 and 26 in a series of coordinated raids early this morning, according to The Guardian.
The trio of teens and 2 men are suspected of being part of the group Anonymous that attacked websites including MasterCard, PayPal and Visa after the firms refused to provide their financial services to WikiLeaks, which had leaked controversial US diplomatic communications in November.
DDoS attacks are illegal in the UK and carry a maximum fine of £5,000 under the Computer Misuse Act. Scotland Yard reportedly said the arrests are part of an ongoing investigation into Anonymous.
"This investigation is being carried out in conjunction with international law enforcement agencies in Europe and the US," it reportedly added.
The 1,000 member-strong hacktivist group originally went to WikiLeaks' aid after Amazon cut ties with the whistle blowing website, launching ‘Operation Payback'. However, Anonymous has not downed tools since the WikiLeaks storm and has reportedly recently turned its attention to disabling a number of the Tunisian and Egyptian governments' websites after political uprisings in the two countries.
Anonymous has always taken a strong stance against censorship and has apparently said its reason for targeting both governments is in retaliation to their censorship practices including the blocking of Facebook and Twitter.
Anonymous has also apparently claimed responsibility for hacking into Ireland's main opposition party's website earlier in January, which compromised around 2,000 people's personal details.
European authorities have reportedly vowed to hunt down the hackers behind various attacks, hoping to trace them by their IP addresses. Last month Dutch police reportedly arrested 2 teenagers suspected of plating a role in Operation Payback and they face trial later this year.
