A crackdown on hacker group Anonymous has seen the arrests of four suspected hacktivists in Italy, report local police. The four are thought to be behind multiple cyber-attacks on the Vatican and the Italian government.<\/p>\n
The suspects have been placed under house arrest for the time
\nbeing while searches are conducted on their respective properties.
\nThe operation, named \u2018Tango Down\u2019 by Italian police, was a
\ncountrywide crackdown led by the General Public Prosecutor’s Office
\nin Rome.<\/p>\n
Italian police released a statement saying the four individuals
\nwere part of the hacktivist movement and were responsible for
\nattacks on Italian government bodies and the Vatican. However,
\ninvestigators added that the group also carried out criminal
\nactivities using the name of Anonymous as a mask to hide
\nbehind.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have demonstrated that this branch of Anonymous Italy was a
\ncriminal organization that used the name of Anonymous as a pretext
\nto carry out their own activities that are not connected to the
\npolitical agenda of the Anonymous movement in other parts of the
\nworld,\u201d<\/i> said the police statement.<\/p>\n
According to police information the four individuals hacked into
\nbusinesses, only to then contact them and sell their own IT
\nsolutions as anti-virus software.<\/p>\n
Anonymous has yet to make a statement regarding the arrest of the
\nfour individuals.<\/p>\n
Last year the Vatican\u2019s website was taken down by the hacktivist
\ngroup who cited the \u201ccorruption\u201d of the Roman Catholic Church as
\nthe principle motivation for the cyber-assault.
“Anonymous decided today to besiege your site in response to the
\ndoctrine, to the liturgies, to the absurd and anachronistic
\nconcepts that your for-profit organization spreads around the
\nworld,\u201d<\/i> said a statement posted on the Italian website of the
\nAnonymous movement.<\/p>\n
“This attack is not against the Christian religion or the
\nfaithful around the world but against the corrupt Roman Apostolic
\nChurch.”<\/i><\/p>\n
Anonymous rose to prominence in late 2010 when it executed a series
\nof cyber-attacks against companies that were trying to prevent the
\ndisclosure of information by whistleblowing site WikiLeaks.<\/p>\n
More recently the group has carried out attacks on Israeli
\ngovernment websites and shut down media accounts and official sites
\nin North Korea.<\/p>\n