Q+A: Could hackers backing WikiLeaks be prosecuted in U.S.?
(Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department and FBI are looking into cyber attacks on companies like Amazon.com targeted by supporters of WikiLeaks, which has released numerous confidential U.S. diplomatic dispatches.
Here are some answers to questions about potential prosecution of those responsible for the attacks.
WHY ARE HACKERS ATTACKING VISA, MASTERCARD,
EBAY, PAYPAL AND AMAZON?
WikiLeaks was cut off by those companies for a variety of services. The website was using Amazon's web-hosting services but was cut off after the Internet services provider determined that WikiLeaks did not have the rights to publish the material it was posting on its site. MasterCard, PayPal and Visa were targeted because they ceased doing business with WikiLeaks.
HOW DID HACKERS ATTACK THE WEBSITES AND WHAT IS A
"DISTRIBUTED DENIAL OF SERVICE ATTACK"?
Supporters of WikiLeaks tried to band together their computer assets to flood the websites with requests for access in the hopes that it would overwhelm the sites and render them unavailable for their business. Their attempts against Amazon were not successful and they turned to PayPal. MasterCard and Visa experienced some outages on their sites but said that personal data was not at risk.
ARE SUCH ATTACKS ILLEGAL AND CAN THEY BE PROSECUTED IN THE
UNITED STATES?
Many Justice Department cases involving hacking or cyber attacks are focused on prosecuting individuals who are trying to or succeed in obtaining personal data such as credit card numbers or bank account information, some cases involving the theft of millions of dollars.
In addition, U.S. prosecutors have filed charges against individuals who have launched attacks aimed at shutting down websites because they are depriving legitimate customers the use of a company's services. In those cases, people have faced charges such as causing damage to a protected computer system and mail fraud. This suggests there could be ground for a case against the hackers supporting WikiLeaks.
HOW HARD WOULD THE CASES INVOLVING WIKILEAKS BE TO
PROSECUTE?
The attacks on the companies who cut off WikiLeaks could be difficult to prosecute because the attackers may be operating outside the United States and determining their identities and involvement could be hard.
Further, if U.S. prosecutors are able to identify and locate the alleged perpetrators, they would have to seek extradition which could pose additional challenges because the countries where they are found may want to prosecute the people there. They could still be extradited afterward, but the legal process could take months.
HAS ANYONE BEEN ARRESTED YET?
Dutch authorities arrested a 16-year-old boy in The Hague on Thursday after he admitted to participating in Internet attacks on MasterCard and Visa, according to the prosecutors' office in the Netherlands.
(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky)
Credit: Reuters (www.reuters.com)
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