Anonymous Members Raided by FBI; Hacker Group Claims to Have News Corp. Emails
A day after the online sect LulzSecurity pulled their own hack on Rupert Murdoch, members of the most the widely-known hacking collective Anonymous, from which LulzSec spun off, have been raided by the FBI. (There doesn't seem to be a direct connection other than the media attention currently being showered on all parties mentioned.) Three search warrants were executed in New York at the homes of young adults thought to be involved in the internet mischief that took down websites for Visa, PayPal and more, Fox News reports. But the group isn't scared, at least publicly. "It doesn't matter how many people the 'FBI' arrest," one member tweeted today. "Whether they are core members or not. #anonymous have started something unstoppable." As a matter of fact, Anonymous claims to be in possession of emails from News International servers -- the very News Corp. properties in hot water over the ongoing phone hacking scandal in the UK. 
According to Fox News, "Anonymous is a loose collection of cybersavvy activists inspired by WikiLeaks and its flamboyant head Julian Assange to fight for 'Internet freedom' -- along the way defacing websites, shutting down servers, and scrawling messages across screens web-wide."
And although Fox note that the "targets of the FBI searches are all in their late teens to early 20s," and that a previous arrest in London was of 19-year-old Ryan Cleary, there's not much reading between the lines, which The Daily Attack is happy to do, calling the FBI action "a campaign, not a crackdown" and noting that the "teenagers and young adults ... are merely charlatans and foot soldiers of the cultural resistance (with a rare exception, or two)."
As the Guardian reported, "The more sophisticated hacktivists use technology that makes their connection anonymous on the internet, so authorities and other internet users cannot see who is behind the computer," while the so-called foot soldiers are just "'average internet citizens,' whose location can be discovered through the IP address."
Meanwhile, both Anonymous and the smaller, but more recently active LulzSec are targeting News Corp. -- owners of Fox News, it should be noted -- threatening to release emails tomorrow, in addition to various log-ins and passwords, as was teased yesterday.
Update: CNN is reporting that at least 14 people have been arrested in connection with Anonymous including individuals in Florida, California and New Jersey.
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