Spanish police detain 3 possible Anonymous members

Spanish police are reporting the arrest of three members of the Anonymous hacktivist collective after an extensive operation in the country. The investigations were in retaliation to the hacking of government websites last year.

The report, carried by Meristation, and translated by VG247, says that members were arrested in Barcelona, Valencia and Almeria. One of those members operated a server from her home in Gijon, Northern Spain, which was used to perpetrate denial of service attacks against websites and agencies all over the world, apparently including Sony's.

The report quotes the domains compromised in attacks involving the server as "Sony Playstation Store, BBVA, Bankia, ENEL and the governments of Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Iran, Chile, Colombia and New Zealand."

Spain's Technological Investigation Brigade of the National Police reportedly tracked through 200,000 lines of chatlogs to narrow down potential suspects and locations before making the arrests after almost nine months of investigation. Police claim to have found software at the site of the arrests "specifically designed for the creation of malware."

The suspects will be charged with criminal damage, discovery and disclosure of secrets and conspiracy in Spanish courts. It has not yet been revealed whether any of the detainees could face extradition charges.