They aren't proof, but they might be enough (I am not a lawyer) for a search warrant for email addresses, person's homes, and phone/ISP records of the people named in the "d0x."
Totally agree with you there, it's all going to depend on what's found in the houses. If they find evidence in the houses it's all going down.
A friend of mine a long time ago back in the 90s beat one of these things because they didn't have a warrant. Cops came to his parents place while he was out. Parent's let them in, they found a bunch of telco manuals, seized the computers, everything in the room was inadmissible because he was renting the room from his parents. He was a lucky guy. He also stopped bitching that his parents made him start paying rent.
They also have a high standard of evidence, before they can go to trial. Otherwise, they are better just observing, and waiting for more evidence to reveal itself. Once you shoot your mouth off, the suspect stops making mistakes.
The FBI is not good at finding [good] computer hackers. They have to outsource or bring somebody in who actually knows what the hell they're doing. And those people are not necessarily very good at it.
A friend of mine a long time ago back in the 90s beat one of these things because they didn't have a warrant. Cops came to his parents place while he was out. Parent's let them in, they found a bunch of telco manuals, seized the computers, everything in the room was inadmissible because he was renting the room from his parents. He was a lucky guy. He also stopped bitching that his parents made him start paying rent.