A Dutch teenager has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in cyberattacks on credit card company websites that have stopped providing service to the controversial WikiLeaks website.
It was not immediately clear how prominent a role the teen had in the attacks that prosecutors said included "MasterCard and Paypal, among others."
News of the teen's arrest came on the same day that the WikiLeaks payment processor said it is going to sue the credit card companies who have cut off its fundraising abilities.
Responding to decisions by Visa and MasterCard to stop processing credit card donations to the site this week, the CEO of Iceland-based DataCell said he is preparing to sue for damages.
"It's difficult to believe that such a large company as Visa can make a political decision," Andreas Fink told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Switzerland.
It's not clear what compelled the companies, as MasterCard has declined repeated requests for comment and a spokesperson for Visa Europe Ltd. said organizations could receive funds through Visa so long as they were legal and didn't breach the company's operating rules.
But, according to Fink, no matter the reason for the unexplained freeze on credit card payments it's costing his company money.
"Not accepting any credit card authorizations is basically killing the business," he told the AP. Fink did not specify what kinds of damage he is seeking.
Since WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange turned himself in to British police on Tuesday, his supporters have been retaliating against the public and private entities they believe are persecuting the man and his whistleblowing website.
Both Visa and MasterCard have come under virtual attack, as outraged supporters rendered their websites temporarily inaccessible through overwhelming floods of simultaneous requests for data known as denial of service attacks.
Online payment service PayPal, which cut ties to WikiLeaks over the weekend, also confirmed it was the victim of a similar attack on Monday.
The loose association of so-called 'hackitivists' behind the attacks are believed to be mounting their 'Operation: Payback' under the banner of 'Anonymous'.
The group has previously set its sights on the Church of Scientology and the music industry.
In a statement late Wednesday, the group said social media website Twitter would be in its crosshairs next -- for "censoring Wikileaks discussion."
Former U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin says she's even come under attack, after speaking out against Assange on Facebook.
Hackers have also targeted the websites of the Swedish government, Swedish prosecutors and a Swiss financial group tied to Assange, who is now in British custody ahead of an extradition hearing on Dec. 14.
The 39-year-old WikiLeaks founder surrendered to British police on Tuesday, in connection with sex-crimes allegations in Sweden pertaining to sexual encounters with two separate women there.
The site he founded, WikiLeaks, has been the focus of intense international attention since it began publishing the first of a promised 250,000 secret U.S. State Department cables.
Although many of the communiques contain little more than diplomatic gossip, some contain information U.S. officials insist is vital to national security.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said that WikiLeaks is now subject of "a very serious, active, ongoing investigation that is criminal in nature."
With files from The Associated Press
