Police have identified and cited
an alleged member of the hacktivist group Anonymous known as 'X'
who claimed the organisation had prevented an ISIS terrorist
attack in Florence, sources said Thursday.
The 29-year-old computer expert from Aosta in northwest
Italy made the allegations in an interview to an on-line Italian
daily in December but they found no confirmation in
investigations by the postal police or anti-terrorism experts.
Anonymous subsequently distanced itself from the claims.
"Our modus operandi has never been to release personal
statements," the group wrote on Facebook, adding that had it
discovered any intelligence, it would have turned it over to
police.
The hacktivist could now face charges of criminal
association for the purposes of illegally accessing and damaging
computer systems.
Investigators claim he is also the founder of the Twitter
account #OpParis allegedly created to hunt down the perpetrators
of the November 13 terrorist attacks in the French capital in
which 130 people were killed.
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