Chorley teenager charged over cyber attacks on Greater Manchester and Cheshire police force websites

A Chorley man has been charged over cyber attacks on police websites.
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Liam Reece Watts, 19, of Stratford Road, Chorley, has been charged with two counts of unauthorised acts with intent to impair operation of or prevent/hinder access to a computer..

The charges relate to deliberate denial of service (DDoS) attacks on the Greater Manchester and Cheshire forces.

He is due to appear at Chester Magistrates' Court today.

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A DDoS attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt normal traffic to a web property.

Web security company Norton describe it as "one of the most powerful weapons on the internet".

It adds: "The aim is to overwhelm them with more traffic than the server or network can accommodate.

"The goal is to render the website or service inoperable."