Jun 13, 2011 12:58 GMT  ·  By
Spanish National Police website attacked in retaliation to Anonymous-related arrests
   Spanish National Police website attacked in retaliation to Anonymous-related arrests

Anonymous has made good on its promise of retaliating against the Spanish National Police after several people associated with the hacktivist group were arrested in the country last week.

"Thousands of people around the world have joined Anonymous; arresting three of them will not hurt us, but will add more people to our ranks. You provided the fuel, now you should wait for the fire. Expect Us," Anonymous members wrote in an open letter addressed to the Spanish authorities.

On Friday the Spanish police arrested three individuals suspected of being high-ranking members within Anonymous and responsible for organizing distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against the European PlayStation Store and websites belonging to banks and foreign governments.

The hacktivist group immediately called on its members to attack the website of the Spanish National Police (www.policia.es) which was inoperable for several hours on Saturday as a result.

Similar attacks hit the websites of the Spanish unemployment and jobs offices, INEM and Servicio Público de Empleo, however, it's not certain if they are related to Anonymous' retaliation.

It seems that the law enforcement actions against Anonymous are intensifying. After the arrest of Anonymous DDoS participants in the United States, UK, the Netherlands and Spain, Turkish authorities also detained 32 people believed to have recently taken part in attacks against official websites.

Anonymous says they can't all be arrested and that's probably right because the group has supporters all over the world. However, such actions might discourage people from participating in attacks.

Former prosecutions of Anonymous members have shown that the punishment for such actions can be very serious and include prison time. Two teenagers who took part in the 2008 Anonymous DDoS attacks against the Church of Scientology received one-year jail sentences.