Three 'hacktivists' arrested in connection with PSN attacks

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Spanish police believe accused to be leaders of Anonymous

Spanish police have arrested three people alleged to have been involved with the recent hack attacks on Sony's PlayStation Network. In a statement to the press this morning, Spanish National Police said they believe the accused to be leaders of the Spanish arm of the hacktivist group Anonymous, as well as key contributors to other online attacks against government and corporate websites.

It's unclear at what time the arrests were made, however police have revealed the supposed 'hacktivists', all of whom are in their early thirties, were picked up in Barcelona, Valencia and Almería. It was in this final location where one of the accused led police to the discovery of a computer serverauthorities now believe was used to conduct attacks on, “Sony Playstation's Store, BBVA, Bankia, ENEL and the governments of Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Iran, Chile, Colombia and New Zealand.”

The Spanish police's investigation into Anonymous began in October 2010 when the group took credit for overloading the Spanish Ministry of Culture’s Web site in protest for the passing of a new anti-piracy legislation, entitled The Law of Sustainable Economy. Following the attack, Police combed through known Anonymous websites searching for the identities of members in Spain who may have been linked to the group's recent activity. Their findings, and info gleamed from other Anonymous actions led them to their first arrest in Almería.

Police have yet todetermine what role the three alleged members of Anonymous played in the attacks linked to the mysterious online group. As such, they have since been released without bail pending further charges.

June 10, 2011

[Source:New York Times,Kotaku]



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Matt Bradford

Matt Bradford wrote news and features here at GamesRadar+ until 2016. Since then he's gone on to work with the Guinness World Records, acting as writer and researcher for the annual Gamer's Edition series of books, and has worked as an editor, technical writer, and voice actor. Matt is now a freelance journalist and editor, generating copy across a multitude of industries.