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.
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.
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."