Peruvian police have arrested a 20-year-old computer science student accused of hacking into the websites of three Peruvian newspapers in early January. According to daily Correo, Diego Luis Bardales, alias Sdm, is suspected of leading a campaign against Peru’s media calling for authorities to release Cyber Alexis, the alias of César Alexis Atoche, 23, who was arrested a week earlier. Atoche is accused of, among other things, siphoning some $833,000 in online fraud.
The sites of daily Ojo and daily Correo were temporarily shut down on Jan. 7 after a hacker called Sdm posted messages calling for authorities to “free Cyber Alexis” and “you protect the streets, leave the net to us.” The hacker, turned cracker, also erased the text of daily Expreso’s web page, leaving it blank.
