Operation Unmask- Interpol Arrested 25 Suspected Anonymous Hackers
The international police agency (Interpol) says 25 suspected members of the Anonymous hackers have been arrested in a sweep across Europe and South America. Interpol says the arrests in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Spain were carried out by national law enforcement officers working under the aegis of Interpol's Latin American Working Group of Experts on Information Technology Crime. "Operation Unmask was launched in mid-February following a series of coordinated cyber-attacks originating from Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Spain," said Interpol, based in the French city of Lyon. The statement cited attacks on the websites of the Colombian Ministry of Defence and the presidency, as well as on Chile's Endesa electricity company and its National Library, among others.
The operation was carried out by police from Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Spain, the statement said, with 250 items of computer equipment and mobile phones seized in raids on 40 premises in 15 cities. Police also seized credit cards and cash from the suspects, aged 17 to 40. The operation, carried out after trawling through computer logs in order to trace IP addresses, also netted 10 suspects in Argentina, six in Chile and five in Colombia, Spanish police said.
They said one of the suspects went by the nicknames Thunder and Pacotron and was suspected of running the computer network used by Anonymous in Spain and Latin America, via servers in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. He was arrested in the southern Spanish city of Malaga. Two of the suspects were in detention while one was bailed and the fourth was a minor who was left in the care of his parents. In Santiago, deputy prefect Jaime Jara said police confiscated computer equipment belonging to five Chileans and a Colombian, aged between 17 and 23. Jara said the suspects appeared to have hacked web pages in Chile, Colombia and Spain.
They said one of the suspects went by the nicknames Thunder and Pacotron and was suspected of running the computer network used by Anonymous in Spain and Latin America, via servers in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. He was arrested in the southern Spanish city of Malaga. Two of the suspects were in detention while one was bailed and the fourth was a minor who was left in the care of his parents. In Santiago, deputy prefect Jaime Jara said police confiscated computer equipment belonging to five Chileans and a Colombian, aged between 17 and 23. Jara said the suspects appeared to have hacked web pages in Chile, Colombia and Spain.
The six suspects did not know each other and were released after voluntarily giving statements, police said, though they will likely be ordered to appear in court to face possible charges relating to online crimes.
Earlier in this month three Greek teenagers have been arrested for hacking into the Ministry of Justice website, also in January a 22 year aged student arrested in south-western Poland for allegedly hacking the prime minister's website and local authority said that he was a part of Hactivist Anonymous.