FBI raids suspected Anonymous hackers in 10 states, from New Jersey to California

Internet "hacktivist" group Anonymous was the target of a bevy of early morning raids conducted at homes in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and Ohio. FBI agents used search warrants to obtain computers and other electronics from the residences and arrested a total of 16 individuals with ages ranging from teens all the way to early 40s. Along with legal names, the indictment also notes screen names and internet monikers used by the group to communicate anonymously.

These arrests were just part of a total of 35 search warrants which were executed today as part of the ongoing investigation into the security-threatening hacking activities of the Anonymous collective. Among its various exploits, the brigade of cyber spies has been implicated in attacks on everyone from Sony to the federal government. The group has also executed web-based attacks on major credit card companies including Mastercard and Visa.

According to a press release from the Department of Justice, today's arrests focused primarily on Anonymous members who waged a cyber war on PayPal. Anonymous was allegedly inspired to hack the online payment company in "Operation Avenge Assange" after Paypal refused to accept donations for Wikileaks, the well-known whistleblower site headed by Julian Assange.

Anonymous' hacker cohorts, LulzSec, have taken aim at the CIA, as well as the Arizona Police Department in an effort to expose racial discrimination. Yesterday, LulzSec took credit for an attack on Rupert Murdoch's U.K. tabloid The Sun. A website redirect sent readers to a fake Sun page announcing the embattled media mogul's death from a drug overdose.

Murdoch's media empire has come under fierce scrutiny after it was revealed that journalists at the News of the World tabloid hacked into the voicemail accounts of prominent U.K. citizens. In addition to assailing one of the News Corp. sites head-on, LulzSec also claims to have a bounty of sensitive emails that will shed further light on the organization's less-than-honest tactics.

It wasn't immediately clear whether any of today's arrests also included members of LulzSec, but the group's Twitter feed appears to be as lively as ever. Today's actions clearly show that the federal government is no longer content to sit by while hackers have their run of the internet, but it's likely that Anonymous will respond in short order.

 

Begun the flame war has.

 

This should be good.

 

http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/34/30/wb_hackerfolo_2011_07_29_bk.html

Also,

http://www.examiner.com/anonymous-in-national/anonymous-hacks-nato-s-online-security-antisec-success

 

I stopped keeping track this this redundant bull shit a bit ago. Anon/lulsec/<insert "Hacktivist" group name here> hacks into government sites, bank of america, sony or some other corp. that they don't see eye to eye with. Meh, it happens so damn much its common place now. So what, big deal, do something useful if the info if they think it has so much power behind it instead of posting a link via twitter.

 

i wonder what shall become of this, hopefully more arrests

 

I agree, sorta. A lot of the things that people are trying to expose, need to be exposed. Instead of the FBI just coming to your house to arrest you.

 

Good they should arrest these fucks you have any idea how many lives they screwed with not to mention screwing with our ability to play the games we pay for

 

yet, shenanigans such as theirs ushuly cause big brother to tighten his grip. all in all anonymous is not doing any good. just setting up a condition were we get more fear legislation.

tbh I hope they pay the piper for there short sighted actions.

 

Yeah..I dunno. Anon isn't really one of those groups that cause much trouble for the little guy like you or me, but more for big corporations and idiots who abuse the little guy. It's also gonna be hard taking down Anon, cause they really don't have a hierarchy of people per say. LulzSec does though, if I'm not mistaken.

I kinda agree with Anon on alot of stuff..and other things they do is just stupid as all get out. For instance, the ideals of free speech and free information? +1 to that. Should look up what they have been associated with, most of it is actions against corporations and governments for either blacklisting info or something of the sort. And, even though it was scary as all get out, they helped to start the revolutions in Egypt.

Where Anon's problem lies, is the stupid script kiddies who go off doing stupid ass shit that doesn't help the bigger picture, and tarnish the name of Anon when they do it, which is kind of hard to keep track of when you don't have a head of hierarchy and all that stuff. While Anon would deny that they had any involvement in that stuff, it only takes ONE person to breathe a name to blame and it's stuck. Example: this recent Sony incident. Anon DID have a problem with Sony, but they had nothing to do with recent attacks.

 

found this interesting webbie...

http://pastebin.com/iVujX4TR

seems lulzsec is pretty lulznabs...

 

Honestly, you must not know much about anon. As stated before, anon (not 1 person, that does not qualify as anon, that is just 1 person being a dick) rarely goes after anything that will hurt someone seriously.

For instance, anon has put countless fucks in jail because of them beating their girlfriends, pets, kids and things of the such. Anon just tries to keep good for the people that actually want to stand up for what is right instead of sitting back and letting us fear tyrannistic governments run in the US and similar countries.

We are legion

 

Anon is not to blame for "fear legislation," politicians whose careers are fueled by fear are to blame, and the people who vote for them.

 

Closing this as we are sliding to the political.