Police in Spain say they have arrested three members of online activist gathering Anonymous, who were allegedly involved in hacking Sony’s PlayStation Network, among other targets.
According to the official Twitter account of the country’s national force, the arrests follow an alleged plot to attack Spain’s Central Electoral Board website. The force has posted a screenshot of IRC chatlogs supposedly detailing plans to attack websites including the police’s own site.
The police claim that the detainees aren’t just have-a-go script kiddies, stating that they “have the capacity to make decisions and direct attacks,” and were also involved in the recent attack on the PlayStation Network, as well as action against the governments of Egypt; Chile; Iran; Colombia and Chile, among other targets.
The arrests, in the cities of Barcelona, Alicante and Almeria, follow a recent declaration from NATO that Anonymous is considered a threat which would be “infiltrated” and “persecuted.” The online collective’s response warned NATO “Do not make the mistake of believing you can behead a headless snake. If you slice off one head of Hydra, ten more heads will grow in its place. If you cut down one Anon, ten more will join us purely out of anger at your trampling of dissent.”
It seems that we’re in for many more clashes between the powers that be and online activists and hackers, as the profile of such groups seems to increase with each passing week.