British authorities accuse David Gerrard Buchanan, 18 years old, of Vann Road, Haslemere, Surrey, of carrying out DDoS attacks, hacking and two swatting attacks on the Mumsnet network.
The charges relate to a series of cyber incidents since the summer of 2015, targeting Mumsnet, a UK-based social network for parents with millions of users
The UK Metropolitan Police brought two charges under article 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 against Buchanan and one charge under article 3.
Buchanan's crimes are linked to a series of events that began in August 2015, when the suspect allegedly took control of the Mumsnet server and redirected it to the Twitter account @DadSecurity. Authorities say Buchanan had control of the Twitter account and was the one who redirected Mumsnet traffic to that account.
Officials also blame the suspect for a series of DDoS attacks that hit the website after the initial hack and caused extended periods of downtime.
Additionally, at that time, some users reported that someone had accessed their accounts and had edited some of their posts.
After the incident, Mumsnet reset the passwords for its 7.7 million users as a precaution against future problems.
In the wake of the cyberattacks, it is believed the hacker went a step further by deploying two police SWAT teams to raid the home of the Mumsnet owner and one of the users who criticized him in a post on the site's forum.
These types of incidents are called swatting, and while some view them as innocent pranks, victims risk being shot by a police officer who is ready to shoot. So far, police have never charged anyone in the swatting incidents.
Following the initial attacks, the UK Metropolitan Police brought forward three teenagers for questioning. In a statement on website , investigators said they had ruled out the other two suspects, both 17 years old.
