22 June 2011 Last updated at 12:31 ET

Teenager charged over alleged website attacks

A 19-year-old Essex man has been charged with five computer offences, including attacking the Serious Organised Crime Agency's website.

Ryan Cleary, from Wickford, is alleged to have set up a distributed denial of service attack on Soca on 20 June.

It is alleged he attacked the website of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry in November 2010.

He also allegedly attacked the British Phonographic Industry's website in October.

Mr Cleary was charged under the Criminal Law Act and Computer Misuse Act by the Met Police's e-crime unit and will appear at City of Westminster Magistrates court on Thursday.

A distributed denial of service typically involves flooding a target website with data, in an attempt to overwhelm it so it cannot serve its legitimate users.

The charges against Mr Cleary include conspiring with other unknown people on or before 20 June to construct a botnet - a collection of hijacked home computers - to conduct distributed denial of service attacks.

He is also charged with making, adapting, supplying or offering to supply a botnet, intending that it should be used to commit, or to assist in the commission of a distributed denial of service attack.