Europe News

More pro-WikiLeaks hackers sought in Netherlands after teen's arrest

Dec 10, 2010, 16:33 GMT

The Hague - The website of the Dutch public prosecutor was disabled for several hours in an apparent cyber attack Friday, coming after the arrest of a teenager suspected of working with computer hackers sympathetic to the online whistleblower WikiLeaks.

The national police website also crashed several times Friday.

The incidents came as Dutch authorities intensified their search for hackers involved in cyber attacks on the credit card firms Mastercard, Visa and PayPal websites.

Further arrests in the Netherlands and other countries were likely, according to the office of the public prosecutor in The Hague.

On Wednesday night, police detained a 16-year-old who allegedly cooperated with a group of pro-WikiLeaks hackers believed to have been behind the attacks. The group reportedly used an internet server based in Haarlem near Amsterdam in its 'Operation Payback' campaign.

Several company websites have been targeted by online activists since the arrest earlier this week of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.