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

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Comments

Re: FBI Raids Texas Business for Operation Payback Leads

Submitted by Father Time on Fri, 12/31/2010 - 00:30.

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 - 20:17.

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 - 19:04.

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 - 18:57.

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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Conster: So apparently Cliff Bleszinski is saying it was Sony, not "the internet whining", that made Microsoft do a 180.06/20/2013 - 5:45am

ZippyDSMlee: Something I did by hand on my convertiable laptop, http://zippydsmlee.deviantart.com/art/Cotlop-zelda-unfinished-sketch-WIP-finish-373937163 forgot if I posted it befor.06/19/2013 - 7:44pm

Conster: Also, I guess The War Z changed its name so they can scam some more people?06/19/2013 - 7:44pm

Conster: AE: when even HuffPo makes the same joke, it's not something you want to take credit for. :P06/19/2013 - 7:43pm

Andrew Eisen: Hey look! The War Z changed its name to Infestation: Survivor Stories. http://infestationmmo.com/06/19/2013 - 7:23pm

Andrew Eisen: You're going to have a lot of company in prison, RedMage. Most of the internet has stolen MY joke. Bastards!06/19/2013 - 7:06pm

RedMage: The cover art thing points to an industry trend of only wanting to appeal to teen boys despite the talk of "broadening the appealz"06/19/2013 - 6:17pm

RedMage: I'd like to turn myself in for unintentional theft of a joke. Ignorance of the law is no excuse :o06/19/2013 - 6:17pm

Andrew Eisen: Remember the fight to get Last of Us's Ellie on the game cover? Check this out: http://cheezburger.com/758618624006/19/2013 - 6:12pm

Andrew Eisen: RedMage - Thief! You stole my joke! You're a horrible, loathesome person! Or you simply had the same idea and didn't read my earlier shout!06/19/2013 - 5:35pm

RedMage: Maybe they're going to rename it the Xbox 18006/19/2013 - 5:26pm

IanC: Bet EA are pissed.06/19/2013 - 5:17pm

Andrew Eisen: Ah, James is just a little quicker on the keyboard than I!06/19/2013 - 5:07pm

Craig R.: Too little, too late.06/19/2013 - 4:52pm

DorthLous: PWAHAHAHAH, the MS spinning sound woke me up :)06/19/2013 - 4:27pm

Andrew Eisen: Microsoft's new console shall now be known as the Xbox One-Eighty.06/19/2013 - 4:17pm

Andrew Eisen: I imagine we were typing our respective shouts at the same time.06/19/2013 - 4:14pm

MaskedPixelante: So Andrew... is there going to be a new poll now? I mean, the one about the XBO DRM is kinda no longer relevant.06/19/2013 - 4:13pm

Andrew Eisen: In light of Xbox One's furious backpeddling on its DRM policies, I'm closing the poll for now. I'll probably write a new one later today or tomorrow.06/19/2013 - 4:11pm

IanC: Found three people whining about this so far. Saying that its because of cheapasses and that its going to be horrible online now. W T and indeed F.06/19/2013 - 4:09pm

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