October 17, 2008
New Jersey Man Charged With Attacking Church Of Scientology Websites In The Name Of ‘Anonymous’
LOS ANGELES – A New Jersey man was charged today for his role in an attack on Church of Scientology websites in January
2008 that rendered the websites unavailable.
Dmitriy Guzner, 18, of Verona, New Jersey, has agreed to plead guilty to computer hacking for his role in the
distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack against the Scientology websites. A DDOS attack occurs where a large amount
of malicious Internet traffic is directed at a website or a set of websites. The target websites are unable to handle
the high volume of Internet traffic and therefore become unavailable to legitimate users trying to reach the sites.
According to the criminal information filed in United States District Court in Los Angeles, Guzner participated in the
attack because he considered himself a member of an underground group called “Anonymous.” “Anonymous” has led protests
against the Church of Scientology at various locations across the country, and in January 2008 posted a video on YouTube
which announced a new offensive against Scientology.
Once he pleads guilty, which is expected to take place in the coming weeks in federal court in New Jersey, Guzner faces
up to 10 years in federal prison.
This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force in Los Angeles. The agencies
involved in the investigation were the United States Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Los
Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigation.
ENDS