14 DAY TRIAL // UK authorities have arrested five individuals following an investigation into the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks orchestrated by Anonymous as part of Operation Payback.
"The five males aged, 15, 16, 19, 20 and 26, are being held after a series of coordinated arrests at residential addresses in the West Midlands, Northants, Herts, Surrey and London at 07:00hrs today (27 January)," the Metropolitan Police Service's Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) announced.
The agency said its investigation into the Anonymous attacks began last year after several affected companies filed complaints.
People associated with Anonymous, which is more of an Internet activism movement than a clearly defined group, are known for their strong pro freedom of information and anti-copyright views.
When they want to make a statement or achieve common goals, Anonymous supporters organize campaigns they call "operations."
These campaigns usually take place online and most of the time they involve illegal actions like DDoS attacks or website defacements.
One such campaign, dubbed "Operation: Payback" (O:P), began in September last year after an Indian company paid film studios to remove copyrighted content from the Internet, publicly boasted about attacking torrent sites.
O:P lasted over two months and consisted of DDoS attacks against many entertainment industry organizations, anti-piracy groups, law firms and even government agencies.
The targets included, but were not limited to, The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the Dutch BREIN Foundation, the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT), the Spanish General Society of Authors and Editors (SGAE), the Federation of the Italian Music Industry (FIMI) and the United States Copyright Office.
"Operation: Payback" changed focus at the beginning of December when Anonymous vowed support to WikiLeaks and decided to target organizations ousting the whistleblower site.
This resulted in attacks against PayPal, VISA, MasterCard, Moneybookers, PostFinance, the Swedish Prosecutors, the Dutch National Police and several others.
At least two people were arrested in the Netherlands in connection with "Operation: Payback," but others involved in older Anonymous DDoS attacks even received jail sentences.
PCeU said that it collaborated with law enforcement agencies from other European countries and the United States in this investigation. The FBI has also launched an official probe into O:P attacks against PayPal.