Spain arrests 3 suspects in hacker group

MADRID, June 10 (UPI) -- Spanish police said Friday they have arrested three members of the mysterious hacker alliance Anonymous, which claims attacks on many sites.

The suspects, who were not named, were charged with causing economic damage and breaching privacy laws and have been released.

The national police told The Wall Street Journal a server found in one of the suspects' homes was used to attack many Web sites, including those of the Sony Playstation Store, two large Spanish banks, Italian energy company Enel and the governments of Spain, Egypt, Libya and Iran.

The denial of service attacks try to paralyze servers by overwhelming them with data.

The investigation began in October after the Culture Ministry was targeted in reprisal for a law against downloading copyright music and other content.

An attack against the Central Electoral Board in May led to the arrest of an individual in Almeria, where police found the server. Strikes against other targets, including the Catalan police, led to the other arrests, in Barcelona and Alicante.

Anonymous has targeted MasterCard and Visa for stopping payments to WikiLeaks and the sites of Arab governments accused of repression.