Anonymous-LulzSec suspect 'Topiary' charged over Soca attacks

An 18 year-old man suspected of being a member of the Anonymous and LulzSec hacktivist groups has been charged with five offences by police, including conspiracy to carry out a distributed denial-of-service attack on the web site of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca).

Jake Davis, who was arrested in Shetland and is thought to have gone under the name 'Topiary', allegedly served as a spokesperson for the groups, which have carried out a string of high-profile attacks on big name public and private sector organisations dating back over a year.

Davis has also been charged with unauthorised access to a computer system under the Computer Misuse Act, as well as "encouraging/assisting offences" under Section 46 of the Serious Crime Act 2007.

He is set to appear at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on Monday.

A single update from the @atopiary Twitter account dated 22 July states defiantly: "You cannot arrest an idea."

The charges against Davis come as the authorities attempt to mount something of a fightback after having been exposed several times by the hacktivist groups.

Essex teenager Ryan Cleary was arrested last month on suspicion of computer crimes including the same LulzSec attack on Soca, while arrests have also been made of suspected members in the US, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey.

However, the action by law enforcement appears to have done little to limit the groups' capabilities.

Over the weekend, Anonymous and LulzSec posted nearly 400MB of documents they claimed to have stolen from US government contractor ManTech, as part of the ongoing AntiSec campaign to expose corruption in public and private sector organisations.