US charges hackers in high-profile cyber attack

NEW YORK - Six hackers in the US and abroad were charged of computer crimes affecting over one million victims, the USA Attorney’s Office in New York said in a statement on Tuesday.

The charge marked the first significant prosecution of major Internet hackers, authorities said.

Five of the arrested individuals from the US, UK and Ireland are described as "core" members of the hacker groups Anonymous and LulzSec, who took responsibility for attacks on the websites of eBay's PayPal, MasterCard Inc. and Visa Inc, in retaliation for the refusal of those companies to process donations to Wikileaks.  

The sixth individual Hector Xavier Monsegur of New York, known as "Sabu", has been working undercover since the FBI arrested him last June. Monsegur provided agents with information that helped them arrest other suspects. 

These suspects are facing charges of computer hacking conspiracy, conspiracy to commit access device fraud, aggravated identity theft, etc.