Salon.com > Ciaran Giles

Cyberattack suspect to return to Netherlands

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:29:00 +0000

MADRID (AP) -- A Dutch citizen arrested in Spain on suspicion of launching what authorities have called the biggest cyberattack in Internet history is expected to be handed over to the Netherlands within 10 days, a Spanish court official said Monday.

The suspect - identified only by his initials S.K. - was questioned Saturday in the National Court in Madrid after his arrest last week and agreed to the deal, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because court rules prevent him from giving his name.

Police say the 35-year-old suspect operated from a bunker in northeast Spain and also had a van capable of hacking into networks anywhere in the country. He was arrested Thursday in Granollers, 35 kilometers (22 miles) north of Barcelona.

He is accused of attacking the anti-spam watchdog group Spamhaus, whose main task is to halt ads for counterfeit Viagra and bogus weight-loss pills reaching the world's inboxes.

Spanish bailout dilemma sharpens

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 19:44:00 +0000

MADRID (AP) — The Spanish government's dilemma over whether to request a European bailout has become more acute following a downgrade of the cash-strapped country's credit rating.

Standard & Poor's late Wednesday cut its rating on Spain's debt by two notches to BBB-, just a step above junk status, or non-investment grade. By indicating that it's a riskier asset to hold, S&P's downgrade may make it more expensive for the Spanish government to borrow money as it might scare off some of its bond investors.

The agency said it was concerned by the deepening economic recession, which has seen unemployment rise to nearly one in four and fueled social discontent. It also noted that the government's hesitation in requesting a European financial lifeline was "potentially raising the risks to Spain's rating."

Though S&P's warning may nudge the Spanish government to make a bailout request sooner rather than later, rival agency Moody's has indicated it may cut its rating for Spain in the event of a bailout request.

"It would appear that when it comes to the rating Spain is a bit between a rock and a hard place," said Gary Jenkins, managing director of Swordfish Research.

Spain nabs 3 al-Qaida suspects, Europe plot feared

Thu, 02 Aug 2012 14:45:00 +0000

MADRID (AP) — Police have arrested three suspected members of al-Qaida who had amassed explosives and may have been plotting attacks in Spain or elsewhere in Europe, Spain's interior minister said Thursday. Two of them had practiced flying light aircraft.

The three — a Russian, a Russian of Chechen descent and a Turk, according to Spanish police — were detained Wednesday. The Turk was arrested in the southern city of La Linea bordering the British colony of Gibraltar, while the other two were picked up near the central city of Ciudad Real as they traveled toward a northern Spanish town near the border with France.

Enough explosive material was found in the house in La Linea where the Turk lived to blow up a bus, and the material could be especially dangerous if combined with shrapnel, Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz said.

Investigators found no indications that the three were targeting Gibraltar, he said, declining to offer specifics on possible targets, except that "there are clear indications they could have been planning an attack in Spain and/or another country."

3 Basques convicted in 2006 Madrid airport bombing

Fri, 21 May 2010 12:17:00 +0000

Three members of Basque separatist group ETA were convicted Friday of a 2006 bombing that destroyed a Madrid airport parking garage and killed two people in an attack that shattered a cease-fire.

The three men were each given 1,040 prison sentences. Spain frequently hands down lengthy sentences in terrorism cases although they are mostly symbolic because the maximum jail sentence a person can serve for a terrorism conviction is 40 years.

The National Court found the three men guilty of murder, attempted murder and taking part in a terror attack in connection with the Dec. 30, 2006 explosion at Madrid's Barajas airport. The blast destroyed a five-story parking garage, killing two Ecuadorean immigrants and wounding 41 other people.

ETA later claimed responsibility for the attack, which marked the end of the cease-fire that the group had begun nine months earlier.

Convicted were Mattin Sarasola, Igor Portu and Mikel San Sebastian. The three were ordered to pay euro1.2 million ($1.48 million) in compensation to the families of the two Ecuadoreans.

ETA is seeking an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France. Considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and the U.S., the group has killed more than 825 people since the late 1960s.

U.S. upbeat about anti-terror accord with E.U.

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:35:50 +0000

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday he is confident an accord will be reached shortly with the European Union to relaunch a Bush-era data-sharing program the U.S. considers key to anti-terror investigations.

Holder said he and other U.S. officials would listen to the EU allies' concerns about the accord's effect on civil liberties during a one-day EU-U.S. ministerial meeting in Madrid on Friday focusing on counterterrorism cooperation.

"One of our goals during these meetings will be to outline the extensive privacy safeguards that we have put in place to govern the TFTP, Holder told reporters in Madrid, referring to the Terrorist Financing Tracking Program. "I'm actually confident that in a relatively short period of time the program will be up."

Holder was to meet with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Justice Minister Francisco Caamano and Interior chief Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba later Thursday.

On Friday, he will meet with the EU officials along with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Treasury Department officials. Vice President and EU Commissioner for Justice Vivian Reding and EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom also will be there.