For executing cyber-attacks on behalf of hacktivist collective Anonymous, two men have been arrested by Southwark Crown Court. A 22-year-old student from Northampton, Christopher Weatherhead received a jail sentence of 18 months while 7 months in prison for Ashley Rhodes, a 28-year-old IT worker and church volunteer from Camberwell for his role in the attacks.
On the other hand, Jake Birchall, an 18-year-old from Chester was sentenced last February 1 for his role in the attacks and Peter Gibson, a 24-year-old from Hartlepool was given a 6 month sentence for his support in the campaign. The attacks were established part of Anonymous’ Operation Payback that directed organizations that had announced a position against the illegal downloading of music and internet piracy.
A DDoS campaign over online payment service providers damage PayPal almost £3.5 million, meanwhile within August 2010 and January 2011, Mastercard and Visa were also exposed to the attacks. The four accused were not simply included in the attacks but they played major roles in controlling the infrastructure used by other Anonymous members to organize the attacks.
Known online as Nerdo, Weatherhead was believed as a dominant member of Anonymous who carried out as a worldwide press representative for the group. While Rhodes, who used the online alias Nikonelite was described to be the most supportive on the accused and possessed a specialist DDoS software on his computer.
The sentenced Anonymous members as rather pretentious but the disposition of their hacks was not very prominent, declared by Judge Peter Testar. He also added that what was exceptional was the time taken to keep the identities of those defendants. The investigators are really to be complimented for dissolving the wall of anonymity that was raised in order to restrain the activity of these subversive being obstructed.
REFERENCES:
http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2239131/anonymous-members-jailed-for-hacking-campaign
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9236218/Former_Anonymous_members_jailed_in_U.K._for_PayPal_Visa_DDoS_attacks
http://news.techworld.com/security/3422617/anonymous-hackers-jailed-for-infamous-ddos-campaign/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2267763/Anonymous-members-jailed-denial-service-attacks-Visa-Mastercard-PayPal-websites.html
