25 suspected Anonymous cyber soldiers arrested in Interpol sting

On Tuesday Interpol reported that 25 suspected members of the hacking collective Anonymous were arrested. The arrests were part of a global initiative by Interpol that spanned Europe and South America.

The arrests were made in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Spain and were carried out by local law enforcement with Interpol coordinating the effort. More specifically, local law enforcement was supported by Interpol’s Latin American Working Group of Experts on Information Technology Crime.

The Telegraph reported that the suspects were between ages 17 and 40 and were suspected of planning cyber attacks on Colombia’s defense ministry and presidential websites, Chile’s Endesa electricity company and national library, as well as other sites. These arrests are reportedly part of an investigation that began back in February.

Interpol says in addition to these 25 arrests that investigation has also resulted in the seizure of 250 items of IT equipment and mobile phones. All of that hardware came from searches of 40 locations across 15 cities.

Earlier on Tuesday, it was announced that four members of Anonymous had been arrested in Spain on suspicion of their involvement on attacks of Spanish political party sites. The 25 members announced by Interpol included those four who are being accused of destroying websites, performing DDoS attacks, and releasing personal information about police assigned to the royal palace and premier’s office.

It seems that Anonymous is being aggressively pursued by law enforcement all around the world. The question is will arrests like these do anything to stop the hacking group or will it only make for more cyber attacks in retaliation?