NJ man gets 1-year term for participating in cyber attack on Church of Scientology Web sites

NJ man sentenced in Scientology cyber attack

NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey man will serve a 366-day federal prison term for conducting a cyber attack on Church of Scientology Web sites in January 2008.

At a hearing Wednesday in Newark 19-year-old Dmitriy Guzner (duh-MEET’-tree GOOZ’-nuhr) of Verona also was sentenced to two years’ probation after his release from prison.

Guzner pleaded guilty in May to computer hacking charges.

Prosecutors say Guzner attacked Scientology Web sites as part of Anonymous, an underground group that protests the Church of Scientology, accusing it of Internet censorship. Guzner has denied being a group member.

Prosecutors say hackers conducted a denial of service attack in which computers flood a target Web site with malicious Internet traffic, making it unavailable to legitimate users.