UNLV student among 16 arrested in hacking roundup

According to the FBI, Mercedes Renee Haefer, 20, also known by the aliases “No” and “MMMM,” was part of the hacker group Anonymous that authorities allege coordinated Internet attacks on websites owned by PayPal, Amazon, Visa and Mastercard.

Haefer, a journalism and media studies student at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has been charged in a federal indictment with conspiracy and intentional damage to a protected computer. She appeared Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lawrence Leavitt in Las Vegas. He released the defendant on her own recognizance but ordered her to surrender her laptop computer.

Her attorney, New York-based Stanley L. Cohen, said the charges were frivolous and his client will plead not guilty.

“If I were the federal government, I’d be much more worried about people that are killing and assassinating people all over the world than 18- to 20-year-old young people with politics,” he said.

Anonymous is a free-speech hacker group that gained notoriety last year in its support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a former hacker and current open government activist.

Assange made headlines in November after WikiLeaks released about 250,000 U.S. government documents, many of which were classified and detailed the country’s relationships with other nations. In December, he was arrested in London after being accused of two sexual assaults in Sweden. An extradition hearing was pending.

Anonymous acknowledged attacks against the companies that dropped financial support for WikiLeaks, a decision many viewed as politically motivated.

On Dec. 4, PayPal, an online money transfer service, froze WikiLeaks’ account in response to the release of documents, citing a breach of their terms of service. It was subsequently attacked by Anonymous hackers between Dec. 6 and Dec. 10, the FBI said.

The FBI said Anonymous attacks by sending their targets’ websites false requests, which overloads the servers and effectively shuts down the sites for a short period.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Jason Carr represented Haefer at Tuesday’s hearing but could not be reached for comment. Haefer’s next appearance is scheduled for Sept. 1 in San Jose, where the indictment was unsealed.

Cohen said that minimal harm was done to PayPal or any website Anonymous was accused of targeting.

“The government is trying to send a message that if you challenge the U.S. government, if you endeavor or let alone succeed to embarrass us and expose our secrets, we will come for you,” he said.

Haefer was one of 14 suspects accused in the attack, dubbed “Operation Avenge Assange.”

Two others were arrested in the United States on Tuesday on unrelated charges, the FBI said. Five others have been arrested in Europe.

The FBI served 35 search warrants Tuesday across the United States. Other arrests in the PayPal attack took place in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Washington, D.C., Florida, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Ohio.

In addition to Haefer, those named in the San Jose indictment are: Christopher Wayne Cooper, 23, aka “Anthrophobic;” Joshua John Covelli, 26, aka “Absolem” and “Toxic;” Keith Wilson Downey, 26; Donald Husband, 29, aka “Ananon;” Vincent Charles Kershaw, 27, aka “Trivette,” “Triv” and “Reaper;” Ethan Miles, 33; James C. Murphy, 36; Drew Alan Phillips, 26, aka “Drew010;” Jeffrey Puglisi, 28, aka “Jeffer,” “Jefferp” and “Ji;” Daniel Sullivan, 22; Tracy Ann Valenzuela, 42; and Christopher Quang Vo, 22.

The identity of one of the 14 individuals accused in the PayPal attack was withheld by the court. Cohen said he was told the suspect was a 16-year-old girl.

“The nerve of Anonymous. This is what this is ultimately about,” he said. “I think there are a few more important things to work out right now than high schoolers with a genuine sense of politics.”

Reporter Carri Geer Thevenot contributed to this report. Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@review
journal.com or 702-383-0283.