Three men arrested after PSN attack

Three suspected computer hackers have been arrested in Spain in connection with the PlayStation Network hack, officials have said.

Spanish police suggest that the three men are connected to Anonymous – the fanatical online activist group which Sony had previously alleged responsible for the PSN attack.

One of the arrested had a computer server running in an apartment in the northern port city of Gijon, the police said.

The trio are suspected to have been involved in attacks on Sony from this base of operations, Police said.

The server may have also been used in similar attacks in two Spanish banks, an Italian energy company, as well as various government websites in Spain, Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Iran, Chile, Colombia and New Zealand, the police said.

Law officials claim to have “dismantled” the inner local leadership of Anonymous though the arrests, suggesting a connection between the “hacktivisit” group and the men charged.

In April, the sensitive personal data of over 77 million PlayStation Network accounts had been compromised when Sony’s online network was illegally accessed.

Anonymous has publicly denied responsibility for the data breach, though said it couldn’t claim responsibility for all of its members.

Spanish police did not make it clear that the arrested trio were suspected to have been the key perpetrators of the PSN hack.

Sony has previously said the hacker attacks will cost $173 million in damages.

[Via New York Times]