Anonymous hackers arrested for Visa, PayPal, Mastercard attacks
Anonymous is a loosely organized international network of online activists suspected of the coordinated computer hacking of institutions, multinationals and government organizations around the globe.
Anonymous hackers Christopher Weatherhead and Ashley Rhodes have been convicted in connection to cyberattacks launched against Visa, PayPal and Mastercard.
Their denial of service (DDoS) assaults on PayPal reportedly cost the company around $4.6 million dollars, according to the Guardian.
The attacks against PayPal and various credit card companies were positioned as revenge for those companies withdrawing their support for payments to Wikileaks, the International Business Times reported.
Weatherhead, 22, will serve 18 months, and 28-year-old Rhodes will serve seven months. Both were sentenced in the United Kingdom, BBC News reported.
A third defendant in the case, 18-year-old Jake Birchall, will be sentenced February 1.
"It is intolerable that when an individual or a group disagrees with a particular entity's activities they should be free to curtail that activity by means of attacks such as those which took place in this case," said Judge Peter Testar, Sky News reported.
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