Group charged in PayPal cyber attack pleads guilty

SAN FRANCISCO: A group of 13 defendants who had been charged in a cyber attack on PayPal's website pleaded guilty and admitted to the December 2010 attack over PayPal's suspension of WikiLeaks accounts.The pleas took place in a California federal court on Thursday and were announced on Friday by the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco.Following the release of a large amount of classified documents by WikiLeaks, PayPal suspended its accounts so that the anti-secrecy website could no longer receive donations. In retribution, the group "Anonymous" coordinated and executed denial-of-service attacks against PayPal.The group of defendants who pleaded guilty were composed of 11 men and two women. Ten of them pleaded to a felony charge, but will be allowed to change that to a misdemeanor next year if they do not violate terms of their agreement before sentencing, according to the U.S. attorney's statement.The three other defendants agreed to misdemeanor charges.EBay's PayPal unit is a service that facilitates the electronic transfer of money between parties..--REUTERS