Arrests made in PlayStation Network hack case

Spanish police have arrested three suspects in connection with the PlayStation Network attacks, along with several other attacks on banks and government sites. The investigation began in October.

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Spanish police have arrested three people in connection with the PlayStation Network attacks, the New York Times reports. The suspects are reportedly the local leaders of Anonymous, the "hacktivist" group implicated by Sony for the attacks.

One suspect, a 31-year-old man from Almeria, had a computer server in his apartment that police say was used to attack the PlayStation store, along with a variety of banks, energy companies, and government sites in Spain, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Iran, Chile, Columbia, and New Zealand. The police began looking into the case in October after an attack on the Spanish Ministry of Culture.

The other two arrests were in Barcelona and Valencia. Police didn't specify if the suspects were still being held. If they are charged with forming an illegal association to attack public and corporate Web sites, they could face up to three years in prison.

It's unknown if these three arrests represent the only hackers involved in the attack, or if they were the ones leading the charge. Police say the case was made based on over two million lines of chat logs, along with Web pages used by the suspects to direct attacks.

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  • reply
    June 10, 2011 8:30 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Arrests made in PlayStation Network hack case.

    Spanish police have arrested three suspects in connection with the PlayStation Network attacks, along with several other attacks on banks and government sites. The investigation began in October.

    • reply
      June 10, 2011 8:38 AM

      Pwned!

    • reply
      June 10, 2011 8:41 AM

      Some choice quotes in there: "According to the police statement, Anonymous is made up of people from various countries organized into cells that share common goals. The activists operate anonymously, but in a coordinated fashion."

      "The National Police identified the three as the local leadership of the shadowy] international network of computer hackers known as Anonymous"

    • reply
      June 10, 2011 8:47 AM

      I hope they get put in jail for a long, long time. I support homebrew on consoles, installing Linux and all of that. However, when the actions go past what they are doing in their basements and starts affecting me directly, I hope they get locked up.

    • reply
      June 10, 2011 8:50 AM

      Well, it's nice to see they're doing something...but, well, like, uh, anon aren't the group that did the most damage to Sony. Lulzsec is still out there giving everyone lulz. Even more importantly it seems lulzsec is where all the real talent is right now. Catching a script kiddie that can DoS is all well and good, but it's hardly an accomplishment.

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        June 10, 2011 9:38 AM

        I don't normally believe that people rationally avoid punishment, but the 'script kiddie' scenario is probably one where it makes sense. You don't have to catch the people who are innovating the intrusion measures, just enough of the ones who are causing trouble with them.

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          June 10, 2011 10:32 AM

          True enough. But I think a fair point here would be that an activist without a weapon is just an angry person shouting at the world. Even when they are armed though, they're less of a threat than those who know how to effectively use those weapons and do real damage. The PSN going down was an inconvenience, having personal data stolen was and is a shitstorm for those affected.

    • gmd legacy 10 years legacy 20 years mercury mega
      reply
      June 10, 2011 8:51 AM

      but they are anonymous!

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      June 10, 2011 9:07 AM

      only three years in prison!!! they should give them life in prison.

      • reply
        June 10, 2011 2:00 PM

        And ban him from using computers.

        • reply
          June 10, 2011 2:07 PM

          Then they'll just hook up with Angelina Jolie.

      • reply
        June 10, 2011 2:25 PM

        Uh, no, they shouldn't. 3 years is plenty for this type of crime - if they ARE the people responsible, which is not proven yet.

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          June 10, 2011 2:58 PM

          3 years is a slap on the wrist, hardly even a deterrent. 10-15 at least.

          • reply
            June 10, 2011 3:39 PM

            3 years in prison is a pretty big deterrent for most normal people.

    • reply
      June 10, 2011 9:53 AM

      Where the fuck is Almeria?

    • reply
      June 10, 2011 10:42 AM

      I wonder if the other countries they hacked, will get to prosecute them after Spain gets done with them.

      • reply
        June 10, 2011 10:43 AM

        They're going to sue to get the jurisdiction to California.

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          June 10, 2011 5:39 PM

          Spain as no extradition treaty with the US. Why would they give up their citizens, and who would one sue?

          • reply
            June 12, 2011 2:52 AM

            Sony. Would sue. To get the jurisdic--wait, have you kept up with Sony PSN news?

    • reply
      June 10, 2011 3:18 PM

      EPIC Games website/forums was just hacked.

      http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=799379

    • reply
      June 10, 2011 4:20 PM

      I'm glad to see that action is being taken in this cyber crime. I don't know how much money the hack cost Sony and gamers who had their personal information stolen, but it has to be a tidy sum. I hope, that if these people are found guilty, that a lengthy prison sentance will result. I don't think, given the magnatude of the damage caused, that 3 years would be long enough. After all, if someone robbed a bank and stole the same amount they would get more than 3 years in prison for it.

      I don't mind people who homebrew or hack consoles, etc in their own homes. It's when they affect innocent people by their actions that they cross the line. In the last 3 months, at least 4 websites that had my personal information have been hacked. Enough is enough and it's time law enforcement steps in.

      • reply
        June 10, 2011 5:41 PM

        Someone once couldn't make a flight and called in a bomb threat at an airport in EU. She got caught. She didn't get a prison sentence. She got nothing except that she has to pay off the damages, which will take her four times her lifetime.

        I like that better.

    • reply
      June 10, 2011 5:27 PM

      How come North America doesn't have psychic police yet? They started investigating the hacking months before it occurred!

    • reply
      June 10, 2011 5:50 PM

      Good start.

    • reply
      June 11, 2011 2:55 AM

      Wan't the dude that "jailbroke" the PSP OS from Spain too or was that Italy?

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      June 11, 2011 12:38 PM

      3 years (1095 days) for stealing 25 million users personal data? That comes out to 0.0000438 days per person. They should have just stole 10,000 peoples credit cards they would have to serve less than half a day in jail.

    • reply
      June 12, 2011 3:31 AM

      If it was Anon then I would like to think all our data is relatively safe, as Anon is out to make a point not a profit. However I am not certain it was. Only time will tell I guess???

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