A British teenager, who is suspected of being part of the group of hackers known as Lulz Security, was arrested Monday night in Essex, England.
Scotland Yard identified the 19-year-old man as Ryan Cleary and he was taken into custody at his home in Wickford, in the county of Essex, according to press reports.
“Investigators believe the arrest is significant and linked to the attacks based mainly at websites belonging to U.S. institutions and organizations. The operation involved two British forces as well as the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. The police said they believed the attacks were linked and were carried out by the same group of hackers,” the Guardian reported.
The arrest comes in the wake of a string of security breaches, including an April attack on Sony’s PlayStation Network, which compromised the personal information of more than 77 million customers worldwide. Nintendo, PBS and even the CIA have also been targets. Tuesday, there was a new report of an attack on Sony Picture France.
A group calling itself LulzSec has taken credit for breaking into a number of websites including Sony Pictures and PBS. But, in its Twitter account LulzSec denied Tuesday that the arrested man was part of its group, saying in a tweet, “Seems the glorious leader of LulzSec got arrested, it’s all over now … wait … we’re all still here! Which poor bastard did they take down?”
Sony, contacted Tuesday, declined to comment since the investigation is ongoing.