HackersTurkey apprehends 32 Anonymous hackers, group vows retaliation
In the continuing crackdown against the international hacking ring known as Anonymous, Turkey has apprehended thirty-two individuals suspected of online cyber attacks against government websites; Turkish officials made the arrests following a cyber attack on the government’s telecommunications agency’s website; officials feared that the group would strike again during national elections; undeterred by the arrests, Anonymous announced that it would resume its attacks on Tuesday night
Anonymous vows to resume attacks on Turkish government // Source: tvxs.gr
In the continuing crackdown against the international hacking ring known as Anonymous, Turkey has apprehended thirty-two individuals suspected of online cyber attacks against government websites.
On Sunday, Turkish police arrested the suspects in a series of raids in Ankara, Istanbul, and ten other cities. The individuals are suspected of “illegally entering the communication system.”
Turkish officials made the arrests following a cyber attack on the government’s telecommunications agency’s website and feared that the group would strike again during national elections.
On Thursday, the Turkish telecommunications authority reported that its website had been down for several hours after it had been hit by a Distributed Denial of Service attack. At least one other government agency had also been taken down that day as well.
The group had attacked several other government websites but were unsuccessful due to stepped up security measures.
Huzeyfe Onal, a Turkish cyber security expert, believes that hackers took control of as many as 90,000 computers to execute its attacks.
“This is a scary number,” Onal said. “This means that in an organized attack, the number could be as many as 1 million computers. This would be a disaster for Turkey’s internet infrastructure.”
Undeterred by the arrests, Anonymous announced that it would resume its attacks on Tuesday night. The group suspended its attacks for the national election. The attacks are meant to protest the government’s plans to implement an Internet filtering system in August.
The government’s announcement was met with widespread criticism and even sparked street protests across the country.
Anonymous argues that the plan would censor the Internet and that the new filtering system could be used by authorities to track people’s activities online.
“Though it remains opaque why and how the system will be put in place, it is clear that the government is taking censorship to the next level,” the group said in a statement. “We will bring our support to circumvent censorship and retaliate against organizations imposing censorship.”
The Turkish arrests follow the apprehension of three Anonymous hackers in Spain suspected of leading attacks on major government and corporate websites around the world. In particular, Spanish authorities believe the hackers may have played a part in infiltrating the Sony PlayStation network and stealing millions of user’s personal information.
Anonymous responded to the arrests by attacking the Spanish police’s website on Sunday, taking it down for several hours.
