Reports: FBI arrests 14 in hacktivist probe

United States authorities on Tuesday arrested at least 14 people in connection with “hacktivist" attacks by the Anonymous hacker group. Tech site CNET reported the arrests follow raids earlier in the day on homes in New York, California, New Jersey, and Florida. CNET said an FBI spokesman in San Francisco confirmed that "the FBI is part of a nationwide investigation" into hacking, but could not comment further. A separate report on FoxNews said the FBI searched the houses of at least three suspected members of hacktivist group Anonymous in New York. It reported that a team of 10 FBI agents executed a search warrant at the home of Giordani Jordan and took at least one laptop. Citing its sources, FoxNews said FBI agents investigated a second Long Island, N.Y., home and one in Brooklyn, N.Y. It added the targets are all in their late teens to early 20s. But FoxNews said a Twitter feed supposedly from Anonymous issued a defiant message. "It doesn’t matter how many people the ‘FBI’ arrest. Whether they are core members or not. #anonymous have started something unstoppable," FoxNews quoted the group as saying. The report said Jordan’s system was linked to a coordinated distributed denial of service attack against several companies. Anonymous had claimed responsibility for attacks against government and corporate websites through its AntiSec operations. A separate report on CNET quoted an FBI representative as saying the agency is engaged in an "ongoing investigation" but would not comment on whether the reported searches were related to Anonymous. Last month, the FBI worked with London police to investigate Ryan Cleary, 19, for alleged involvement in hacking activities. Computer security firm Sophos said the "Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC)" tool believed used by the hackers may not have done a good job of covering their tracks. It said this had made it potentially easy for computer crime authorities to track those behind the attacks. Sophos also noted the raids in New York came hours after hackers launched an attack against "The Sun" newspaper, redirecting visitors to a false news story that News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch had been found dead. "Facilitating or conducting a DDoS attack is illegal in many countries around the world, and in the United States is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and considerable fines," it added. — RSJ, GMA News