The court was told that the four self-styled Anonymous `hactivists'
carried out a series of cyber attacks using the name `Operation
Payback'; and virtually inundated the websites belonging to a number of
companies - including PayPal and Ministry of Sound - with messages and
requests, with the aim of making them go offline.
Three of the Anonymous hackers involved in `Operation Payback' -
which cost PayPal over £3.5 million, and brought down the websites of
MasterCard and the recording industry - have admitted to their role in
the cyber-attacks.
The fourth accomplice - a 22-year-old Northampton University student
named Christopher Weatherhead - is currently on trial at Southwark Crown
Court; and faces the allegation that he was "part of a small cabal of
leaders" of the cyber-attacks carried out between August 1, 2010 and
January 22, 2011.
Opening the prosecution case at the London court, Sandip Patel said
that Weatherhead - known by the online name `Nerdo' - played a key role
in the `Operation Payback' cyberattacks; and added: "He (Weatherhead)
and others like him waged a sophisticated and orchestrated campaign of
online attacks that paralysed a series of targeted computer systems
belonging to companies, to which they took issue with for whatever
reason, that caused unprecedented harm."
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