The charges filed against Ryan Cleary followed his by the Metropolitan Police Central e-Crime Unit.

One security expert said Cleary's arrest, and the seizure of his computers, may lead authorities to members of LulzSec, the group that claimed responsibility earlier this week for the Web site of the U.K.'s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).

SOCA is responsible for, among other things, major computer crime investigations in the U.K.

Cleary, of Wickford, Essex, has been linked to both LulzSec and Anonymous, hacker crews that have used distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks to knock government and business sites offline.

Today, Cleary was accused of building a botnet that has been used to launch several DDoS attacks since October, including the SOCA site on Monday.