U.K. Police Charge 22 Year Old in ‘Anonymous’ Hacking Probe

[The Northerner]

A 22-year-old man was charged with computer offenses by U.K. police investigating attacks on companies carried out by the hacking group Anonymous.

Peter David Gibson, a student from Hartlepool, England, was charged with a conspiracy to impair the operation of a computer or hinder access to a program or data, the Metropolitan Police in London said today in a statement. Gibson had been arrested along with five others by officers in connection with so-called denial of service attacks against several companies, the police said.

Anonymous is alleged to have targeted companies including EBay Inc., Sony Corp. (SNE) and Visa Inc. Denial-of-service attacks flood computer networks with requests for information until they shut down.

Police declined to give out information on how to contact Gibson or his attorney.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-25/u-k-police-charge-22-year-old-in-anonymous-hacking-probe-1-.html