MADRID — Spanish police have arrested four people suspected of carrying out a cyberattack that stopped a media website from working for three weeks and cost it 425,000 euros ($530,600), a statement said Sunday.

Spanish news website prnoticias said the attacks, organized by a former director of rival news outlet Intereconomia, had hindered its output for 21 days starting in October 2013.

Those arrested are described as a business entrepreneur and three computer experts whom he allegedly hired to launch an unlawful attack known as distributed denial of service, police said.

An international investigation took 14 months and involved the FBI and Canadian authorities who collaborated to locate and arrest the suspects in Madrid and Tarragona.

The statement did not say when the arrests were made.

Calls to Intereconomia went unanswered Sunday.