Teenager web plot to hit Royal Wedding site

The 16-year-old was arrested following an investigation by the Metropolitan’s Police’s specialist cyber-crime unit.

Officers believe an attempt was made last year to hit the website with a “denial of service” attack, when hackers use multiple computers to overload a site’s servers and cause them to crash.

The Metropolitan Police yesterday confirmed the youngster had been reprimanded by senior officers and given a final warning – the equivalent of an adult caution.

A police spokeswoman said that no other hackers were arrested over the plot.

The Police Central e-crime Unit (PCeU) is jointly funded by the Home Office and Metropolitan Police to provide a national investigative response to the most serious incidents of cyber-crime under the Computer Misuse Act, 1990.

Funding of £30m has been provided over four years to support the development of the unit as it tackles computer intrusion, denial of service attacks and internet fraud.