THREE teenagers are among five males arrested on suspicion of carrying out cyber attacks on the websites of companies that have refused to do business with WikiLeaks.
The five, aged 15, 16, 19, 20 and 26, were arrested at their homes in the West Midlands, Northamptonshire, both in central England, Hertfordshire and Surrey, in southern England, and London early yesterday morning.
Police suspect them of involvement in Anonymous, a group of internet hackers which last month orchestrated so-called distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on companies that have cut ties with the whistle-blowing website.
The Times understands that one of those arrested is Chris Wood, 20, who gave several TV and radio interviews last year in which he was described as a member of Anonymous.
Mr Wood, who goes by the name of Coldblood, told BBC’s Today program in December: “I see this becoming a war. We’re trying to keep the internet free and open for everyone.”
Using DDoS attacks, Anonymous disrupted hundreds of credit card payments at MasterCard on a busy shopping day in the run-up to Christmas.
The group also attacked websites operated by Visa and PayPal. All three companies stopped processing payments from WikiLeaks after it published hundreds of secret diplomatic cables in November.
To mount the attacks, thousands of Anonymous supporters downloaded a free piece of software from the group, enabling their computers to bombard a targeted website with so many queries that it crashed. Anonymous members said last night that the arrests could lead to reprisal attacks against government and police websites.
“Arresting somebody for taking part in a DDoS attack is exactly like arresting somebody for attending a peaceful demonstration in their hometown,” a statement from the group said.
“Anonymous cannot, and will not, stand idle while this injustice is being done.
“Our advice to you, the UK Government, is to take this statement as a serious warning.”
After Dutch authorities arrested a 16-year-old boy in connection with the activities of Anonymous, DDoS attacks were launched on the Dutch National Police website.
One Anonymous member, known as Topiary, told The Times: “We are concerned, we don’t want anyone arrested over these attacks.
“We warned every single volunteer of the risks involved before they installed our software.”
British police are believed to be working with the FBI and other European forces in investigating Anonymous.
It is understood that they began looking into the group last summer after it attacked music-industry websites operated by the Recording Industry Association of America and the British Phonographic Industry.
“The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation into Anonymous which began last year after criminal allegations of DDoS attacks by the group against several companies,” the Metropolitan Police said.
Under UK law it is a criminal offence to carry out “any unauthorised act in relation to a computer” where the person “has the requisite intent and the requisite knowledge” to do it. The maximum penalty is 10 years’ imprisonment and a pounds 5,000 fine.
On private internet forums, Anonymous members yesterday discussed attacking Egyptian government websites, after massive anti-government protests took place in Cairo.
Previous attacks have reportedly affected websites belonging to Egypt’s Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Communications.
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