PayPal DDoS Attack

Thirteen people have pleaded guilty to launching cyber-attacks against PayPal.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said the accused had all admitted to carrying out a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) cyber-attack against PayPal in December 2010 in protest against the payment processing firm's decision to stop handling donations to WikiLeaks over the Cablegate affair. One of the defendants also pleaded guilty to a separate cyber-attack on the website of Santa Cruz County.

In a plea agreement, the accused admitted using the Low Orbit Ion Cannon tool, Anonymous's favourite website flooding utility, to hit PayPal as part of “Operation Avenge Assange”. The 13 defendants pleaded guilty to computer hacking offences.[…]

The PayPal DDoS prosecution follows an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with cooperation from PayPal. Authorities in the Netherlands, Germany and France have also taken their own investigative and enforcement actions.

Reportedly, all 13 defendants have been released on bail until sentencing, scheduled for late 2014.