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DECEMBER 10, 2010 Dutch Police Arrest Suspect in Pro-WikiLeaks Hacking By CASSELL BRYAN-LOW And JEANNE WHALEN Dutch authorities said they arrested a 16-year-old boy suspected of being involved in attacks on the websites of MasterCard and Visa that were allegedly mounted by sympathizers of document-leaking website WikiLeaks. Police arrested the suspect at his home in The Hague late Wednesday night and said he had acknowledged being involved in the attacks on the websites of the two credit-card companies, according to Wim de Bruin, a spokesman for the Dutch prosecution office. Police also seized computers and data-storage devices. The boy, whom authorities didn't name but confirmed is Dutch, remains in custody and is due to appear before a judge on Friday. A lawyer for the boy couldn't be reached. Dutch authorities said they arrested a 16-year-old boy suspected of being involved in attacks on the websites of MasterCard and Visa allegedly mounted by sympathizers of document-leaking Web site WikiLeaks. Eelco Hiltermann reports from Amsterdam. More a.. Brazil President Pledges Solidarity with WikiLeaks b.. Cable Shows Shell's Reach in Nigeria c.. WikiLeaks' Supporters Pledge More Attacks d.. The Source: Hactivists' First Great Cyber War? Dutch police believe he is part of a larger group of WikiLeaks sympathizers behind the so-called denial-of-service attacks, in which computers flood a server to prevent it from displaying a Web page, Mr. de Bruin said. Dutch authorities say the group conducting the attacks are doing so under an effort called Operation Payback. The police are continuing their investigation, including exploring the potential involvement of others in the Netherlands. MasterCard Inc. and Visa Europe, which both recently suspended payments to WikiLeaks, are among a growing list of organizations and individuals that have suffered online attacks in recent days, in what appears to be an effort by hackers bent on exacting revenge for the document-leaking website. The computer attacks have increased in intensity in recent days following the arrest Tuesday in London of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in connection with sexual-misconduct allegations in Sweden. Mr. Assange was denied bail and remains in custody pending a hearing in the U.K. next week. He has denied the allegations and hasn't been formally charged. WikiLeaks itself has been under pressure from the U.S. following its release of thousands of State Department cables and other documents. Over the past week, a number of companies that provide WikiLeaks with various services have terminated their relationships with the organization, including Amazon.com Inc., eBay Inc.'s PayPal and Swiss bank PostFinance, a unit of Swiss Post. In addition, attacks have been launched at organizations and individuals connected with Mr. Assange's personal legal troubles. The Swedish prosecutor's office and a lawyer representing the two women making allegations against Mr. Assange reported difficulties with their websites. The group behind the attacks appears to be a loose-knit collection of people identifying themselves as "Anonymous." It isn't clear who is in charge of or speaks for that group. On Thursday a 22-year-old man claiming to be a spokesman for the hackers vowed on British Broadcasting Corp. radio that the attacks would continue. "I see this as becoming a war, but not your conventional war-this is a war of data," said the man, identifying himself only as "ColdBlood." "We're trying to keep the Internet open and free for everyone." Speaking with an English accent, he said he hasn't been in contact with WikiLeaks regarding the campaign, saying that it's "very hard to get hold of anyone from WikiLeaks." Later in the day, however, a post on a Twitter page claiming to represent Operation Payback dismissed the idea that "ColdBlood" was a spokesman for the effort. -Eelco Hiltermann contributed to this article. Write to Cassell Bryan-Low at [email protected] and Jeanne Whalen at [email protected] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
