German police have carried out their biggest ever crackdown on internet piracy in probe against 126 members of an online hackers' forum.
The Germans are thought to be part of a wider network of 476 people in 33 countries who were members of an internet forum called Liquid FXP.
They hacked into internet service providers to gain access to film, music, computer software and games, then offered pirated versions for downloading.
According to Germany's federal criminal office, police carried out 132 search warrants against suspects on allegations of computer sabotage and hacking.
Investigators followed this up with a further 337 warrants enabling them to search through the computer data of companies and institutions linked to the hacked servers.
The probe was sparked by an investigation into one member of the forum on suspicion of credit card fraud.
Police said members of the forum discovered 11,820 servers worldwide with security gaps.
They would hack into the system and install their own server, which would then enable them to download what they wanted.
The Germans are thought to be part of a wider network of 476 people in 33 countries who were members of an internet forum called Liquid FXP.
They hacked into internet service providers to gain access to film, music, computer software and games, then offered pirated versions for downloading.
According to Germany's federal criminal office, police carried out 132 search warrants against suspects on allegations of computer sabotage and hacking.
Investigators followed this up with a further 337 warrants enabling them to search through the computer data of companies and institutions linked to the hacked servers.
The probe was sparked by an investigation into one member of the forum on suspicion of credit card fraud.
Police said members of the forum discovered 11,820 servers worldwide with security gaps.
They would hack into the system and install their own server, which would then enable them to download what they wanted.