'Anonymous' hacker pleads guilty to Scientology cyberattacks
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
A teen from New Jersey yesterday pleaded guilty to computer hacking in connection with a January 2008 series of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on the Church of Scientology's website.
Prosecutors said Dmitriy Guzner, 19, of Verona, New Jersey, was part of the hacker group Anonymous that targeted the Scientology church's web security. Guzner was charged last October, but only just entered his plea, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The DDoS attacks - which overwhelm a website with malicious traffic to cause it to shut down - began January 19, hitting Scientology.org with as much as 220Mb per second of traffic, PC World reported.
This is the first prosecution of a member of Anonymous, a group of pranksters and hackers described by Wired.com as "a loose collection of griefers who hang out in the net's most juvenile corners looking for some outlet for their boredom."
Anonymous members declared war on the Church of Scientology in January 2008 after the science-fiction inspired religious group attempted to block the posting of YouTube video, Wired.com reported.
The video featured Tom Cruise and was produced for Scientology members, Wired.com reported. Cruise is an outspoken member of the Scientologists.
Guzner will not be sentenced until August 24 in U.S. District Court in New Jersey.
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