News
32 Hackers Reportedly Associated with Anonymous Arrested in Turkey
- By Kevin McCaney
- 06/14/2011
According to Turkey's government news organization, Anadolu Agency, the Turkish authorities had arrested 32 Anonymous members in 12 cities in connection with attacks on government Web sites, Computerworld reported.
Anonymous had said the attacks were a protest against Turkey's plans to filter Internet browsing beginning in August, according to the group's AnonOps Communications Web site. Turkish officials have said the move is designed to protect young users from harmful content.
The arrests in Turkey followed Spain's arrest of three suspected Anonymous members for attacks on the country's second biggest bank and the Italian company that owns the Spanish power company Endesa, Bloomberg reported.
Anonymous responded to those arrests with an attack June 11 that shut down Spain's national police Web site for several hours, according to CNET.
The attacks on Turkey's government sites, launched June 9, were distributed denial-of-service attacks using "a coordinated network of Low Orbit Ion Canons (LOICs)," Anonymous said on its site.
Although LOICs are effecting in carrying out such an attack, that method is fairly easy to trace, CNET reported.
Anonymous also has been involved in attacks elsewhere, including a DDOS attack on Sony that Sony says provided cover for breaches that exposed personal information on more than 100 million users of its PlayStation network and Qriocity music service.
Anonymous also has reportedly attacked government websites of Iran, Egypt, Libya and Algeria.
About the Author
Kevin McCaney is the managing editor of Government Computer News.