FBI Raids Texas Business for Operation Payback Leads

December 30, 2010

According to a report in The Smoking Gun, the FBI has raided a Texas business and seized a computer server that investigators allege was used as part of "Operation Payback."

The FBI began an investigation earlier this month after PayPal "reported that an Internet activist group using the names '4chan' and 'Anonymous' appeared to be organizing a distributed denial of service ('DDoS') attack against the company," according to an FBI affidavit.

The attack was part of an online effort to punish corporations that turned their backs on Wikileaks and Julian Assange. Other targets included Visa, Mastercard, Sarah Palin’s web site, and the Swedish prosecutor pursuing sex assault charges against Assange.

On December 9, PayPal provided the FBI with eight IP addresses that hosted an "Anonymous" Internet Relay Chat (IRC) site allegedly used to "organize denial of service attacks." According to the FBI, the unnamed administrators of the IRC "acted as the command and control" for an army of computers.

While warrants have been issued and locations have been searched around the world, it sounds like law enforcement is gathering information and has not located any specific targets for criminal prosecution. In many instances, searches at many locations found that "anonymous" users had logged in remotely from some other place.

Source: Boing, Boing

Posted in Crime File Hackers Law Enforcement

Comments

Re: FBI Raids Texas Business for Operation Payback Leads

Submitted by Father Time on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 01:30.

Huh. Now I wonder if 4chan will try to get the FBI to find out who attacked them?

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Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.

---------------------------------------------------- Debates are like merry go rounds. Two people take their positions then they go through the same points over and over and over again. Then when it's over they have the same positions they started in.

Re: FBI Raids Texas Business for Operation Payback Leads

Submitted by Neeneko on Thu, 12/30/2010 - 21:17.

Must be nice to have that kind of power behind you in a conflict.

Re: FBI Raids Texas Business for Operation Payback Leads

Submitted by Speeder on Thu, 12/30/2010 - 20:04.

I tought the whole point of anonymous was be anonymous...

--- Maurício Gomes twitter.com/agfgames

Re: FBI Raids Texas Business for Operation Payback Leads

Submitted by ddrfr33k on Thu, 12/30/2010 - 19:57.

In many instances, searches at many locations found that "anonymous" users had logged in remotely from some other place.

Yep, sounds like Anon...

Treasure bin: Cult Hits, chea pass gaming options, and rants about gaming in general

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DorthLous: Actually, nop, I did miss the emoticon for some reason (getting used to pics?) and I didn't know you changed it since (since I posted previous to my shout and it was still there.) Anyhow, thanks for taking it out!05/23/2012 - 6:01pm

james_fudge: Well we were just testing it. but it is still on the submission to fight $pam.05/23/2012 - 5:48pm

E. Zachary Knight: James, No I don't have it. I was just wondering who does and why. More curiosity than anything.05/23/2012 - 5:38pm

james_fudge: Did you not see the emoticon and did you not see that it has already been changed back?05/23/2012 - 5:10pm

james_fudge: LOL05/23/2012 - 5:07pm

DorthLous: Why? Not shocked that people are barking to an additional hoop to jump through when posting from their already logged in account or just mentionning this to try to paint me as one always complaining?05/23/2012 - 4:45pm

james_fudge: big shock there ;)05/23/2012 - 4:30pm

DorthLous: I'll add my voice to those wanting it gone :S I'm already logged in, I don't need a captch'a. That's for those registering.05/23/2012 - 3:54pm

james_fudge: Et tu EZK?!?05/23/2012 - 3:51pm

Craig R.: I'm a One Man Quorum! And it's working for me now, thanks. :)05/23/2012 - 3:48pm

E. Zachary Knight: How do we determine who get's the game/captcha thingy? Is there a certain posting threshhold users have to meet before it is turned off?05/23/2012 - 2:25pm

james_fudge: Give it a chance, we're still adjusting it ;)05/23/2012 - 11:20am

james_fudge: One does not a Quorum make Craig.05/23/2012 - 11:16am

Craig R.: If I complete the stupid game, and it just deletes my comment, what's the point?05/23/2012 - 11:15am

Craig R.: Ok, the little captcha game? You can get rid of it already.05/23/2012 - 11:13am

Craig R.: FCC boss is giving the thumbs up to usage-based pricing for Internet access05/23/2012 - 11:08am

Andrew Eisen: beemoh - Yeah, Miyamoto was awarded the Spanish prize for Communication and Humanities.05/23/2012 - 10:36am

beemoh: UK READERS: Sky Arts to broadcast complete Video Games Live concert this Friday at 9PM. Repeat 7AM the day after.05/23/2012 - 10:09am

beemoh: Miyamoto seems to have been awardsed something- he was just trending worldwide on Twitter, and all the tweets were in what looked like Spanish.05/23/2012 - 7:07am

Michael Chandra: Think so yes, since the judge didn't allow them to add ips at will. :P05/23/2012 - 6:23am

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