Anonymous responds after suspected hacktivists arrested in Italy and Switzerland

15 people, suspected of involvement in the Anonymous hacktivism movement which has launched a series of internet attacks, were arrested earlier this week following raids in Italy and Switzerland.

According to media reports, a 26-year-old Swiss-Italian called “Phre”, based in Canton Ticino, was amongst those detained and charged. It is alleged that “Phre” was a senior member of the group, who approved companies for the hackers to target.

The Italian branch of Anonymous is suspected of bombarding government, business and media websites with denial-of-service attacks, with victims including the Italian senate, energy firm ENI, defence firm Finmeccanica, and financial institution UniCredit.

A total of 32 homes in Italy and Switzerland were searched by police as part of the investigation, with those detained aged between 15 and 28…

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.