Security News > 2009 > May > 'Anonymous' hacker pleads guilty to 2008 attack on Scientology sites

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/05/perpeterator-of-2008-cyberattack-on-scientology-pleads-guilty.html By David Sarno Los Angles Times May 11, 2009 Remember that cyber-attack on Church of Scientology websites those many moons ago? It was an early volley in the brief but memorable war between the church and a group of young Internet denizens who called themselves "Anonymous." Since then, the anti-Scientology movement has mostly petered out, but today a spark traveled through its old circuitry when a 19-year-old New Jersey man admitted having launched the January 2008 attack, which sent Scientology sites down for part of a day. According to a news release from the Justice Department's Los Angeles office, Dmitriy Guzner of Verona, N.J., pleaded guilty to computer hacking charges related to the 2008 distributed denial of service attack (DDOS) on Scientology websites. That's where hackers get so many zombie computers to visit a site that the server overload becomes crippling and the site crashes. The department's release mentions that Guzner said he "participated in the attack because he considered himself a member of an underground group called 'Anonymous.' " But when asked whether Guzner was one of several participants or the main culprit, agency spokesman Thom Mrozek responded, "He was the guy." [...] -- LayerOne 2009, Information Security for the discerning professional. May 23-24 2009 @ The Anaheim Marriott in Anaheim, California Visit http://layerone.info for more information

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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/05/perpeterator-of-2008-cyberattack-on-scientology-pleads-guilty.html