UK teenager arrested in global hacking probe

British police investigating with America's FBI a series of computer hacking attacks on international companies said on Tuesday they had arrested a 19-year-old man in eastern England.

London's metropolitan police said they had arrested the teenager in Wickford, Essex, on suspicion of computer misuse and fraud offences.

"The arrest follows an investigation into network intrusions and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks against a number of international business and intelligence agencies by what is believed to be the same hacking group," the London force said.

It said forensic officers were now examining "a significant amount of material" following searches at the home where the arrest took place.

The teenager was being held at a central London police station.

Hackers have carried out a series of attacks on international firms and organisations in recent weeks, including the International Monetary Fund, Lockheed Martin Corp, Citigroup Inc, Google and Michaels Stores.

The loosely organised hacker group Lulz Security has claimed hacks into websites owned by Sony Corp as well as the US Public Broadcasting Service and Fox.com. Fox is a unit of News Corp.