U.K. authorities have arrested a man in an investigation in the hacking of Sony's PlayStation Network and Microsoft's Xbox Live services over Christmas.
The 18-year-old unnamed suspect, who was arrested in Southport, close to Liverpool, is accused of accessing computer material without authorization and knowingly providing false information to law enforcement agencies in the U.S., according to BBC News.
A hacking group going by the name Lizard Squad took credit for the distributed-denial-of-service attack, which resulted in major disruption in the popular online gaming systems by causing servers to stop working.
Craig Jones, head of the police cybercrime unit responsible for the arrest, said the false information practice in the incident, called "swatting," involved sending hoax calls via Skype about a major incident to law enforcement forces in the U.S., resulting in SWAT teams being sent to handle the issue, the Associated Press reported. The arrest was also made on suspicion of threats to kill.
Specialty units were able to conduct further investigation thanks to police seizing different electronic and digital devices at the suspect's home.
U.K. cybercrime units worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the investigation, and the arrest was made by officers from the South East Regional Organized Crime Unit (Serocu) and the North West Regional Crime Unit (Rocu), with help from the National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU), BBC News reported.
"This investigation is a good example of joint law enforcement co-operation in relation to a type of criminality that is not restricted by any geographical boundaries," Jones said. "We are still at the early stages of the investigation and there is still much work to be done. We will continue to work closely with the FBI to identify those who commit offences and hold them to account."
