FBI makes sweeping Anonymous arrests and searches

HACKTIVIST MOVEMENT Anonymous might have a few less members out on the streets according to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which claims to have arrested 16 likely individuals.

According to an FBI statement fourteen of the arrestees where picked up on charges relating to a hack on Paypal, which has been credited to Anonymous. A further two were arrested on cyber crime related charges, it added.

All sixteen were arrested in the US, but search warrants were also issued across the globe, including for some addresses in the UK. The FBI said that over 35 warrants had been issued and that one person had been arrested in the UK and four in the Netherlands.

The indictment relates to an assault on Paypal in November of last year after it stopped accepting donations for Wikileaks. According to the FBI Anonymous attacked Paypal using denial of service techniques under 'Operation Avenge Assange' in the early part of December.

The FBI has released the names of the arrested and we repeat them here:

Christopher Wayne Cooper, 23, aka "Anthrophobic;" Joshua John Covelli, 26, aka "Absolem" and "Toxic;" Keith Wilson Downey, 26; Mercedes Renee Haefer, 20, aka "No" and "MMMM;" Donald Husband, 29, aka "Ananon;" Vincent Charles Kershaw, 27, aka "Trivette," "Triv" and "Reaper;" Ethan Miles, 33; James C. Murphy, 36; Drew Alan Phillips, 26, aka "Drew010;" Jeffrey Puglisi, 28, aka "Jeffer," "Jefferp" and "Ji;" Daniel Sullivan, 22; Tracy Ann Valenzuela, 42; and Christopher Quang Vo, 22.

One name has been withheld by the court, added the FBI, while another suspect, Scott Matthew Arciszewski, 21, was arrested on charges of intentional damage to a protected computer. The FBI said that this computer belonged to the Infragard web site, and led to further attacks on that property.

Lance Moore, 21, was also arrested in the US, and he is accused of stealing information from AT&Ts servers that was later released by Lulzsec. µ