Spanish police arrest Anonymous ‘hacktivists’

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Spanish police claim to have three

Anonymous hackers in custody

Three suspected computer hackers who allegedly belong to international activist group “Anonymous” have been arrested in Barcelona, Valencia and Almeria in Spain.

A national police statement identified the three individuals as leaders of the Spanish section of the “Anonymous” group, which has claimed responsibility for attacks of corporate and government websites around the world, including companies such as Visa, MasterCard and PayPal, all of whom severed their links with WikiLeaks after it began publishing its massive trove of secret U.S. diplomatic memos.

Anonymous lose computer equipment

The Spanish authorities reported they seized computer equipment at the three alleged hackers’ homes which was used to coordinate and carry out the cyber attacks, under the name of Anonymous, on targets including two major Spanish banks, the Italian energy company Enel and the governments of Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Iran, Chile, Colombia and New Zealand, according to the national police statement.

Since October 2010, Spanish police specializing in cyber crime have analyzed more than two million lines of online chat and Internet pages until they finally zeroed in on the three suspects. Their names were not given.

In January, British police arrested five young males on suspicion of involvement in cyber attacks by Anonymous, which has backed WikiLeaks.