Accused of being part of the hacking group Anonymous, Kevin Poe was arrested for conspiracy and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer on Tuesday, December 13.
- December 14, 2011
AceShowbiz -
An alleged member of the international hacker group Anonymous has found himself in hot water for a five-day period attack on Gene Simmons' website. Kevin George Poe of Manchester, Connecticut was arrested and slapped with two federal charges Tuesday, December 13, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles said.
The 24-year-old man was indicted in Los Angeles on two counts, one for conspiracy and the other for an unauthorized impairment of a protected computer. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison. He made his initial appearance in court in Hartford, Connecticut, and was released on $10,000 bond.
Poe, who uses the screen name of spydr101, joined Anonymous in conducting a "denial of service" attack against the KISS bassist's computer systems back in October 2010. He reportedly used the computer program Low Orbit Ion Cannon, "a favorite software tool of the Anonymous collective", to send tens of thousands of electronic requests to overload the server and shut it down.
Authorities did not disclose the reason why Poe and Anonymous targeted Simmons' website. It was noted, however, that the hacker group has been linked to attacks on the websites of the PlayStation store, MasterCard, Visa and the Church of Scientology.
