Australian police have charged an unidentified juvenile, who is suspected to be a member of the hacker group Anonymous, on a number of counts related to unauthorised access to computer data.
The 17-year-old appeared in Parramatta Children's Court on Friday to face charges, and is scheduled to appear again in the court on May 17, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said in a statement.
"The juvenile is suspected to be a member of the online issue motivated group 'Anonymous' and allegedly committed serious offences on their behalf," the AFP said. The police did not specify in which Anonymous attacks the youth had participated.
The youth has been charged with six counts of unauthorized modification of data to cause impairment, one count of unauthorized access with intent to commit a serious offence, one count of possession of data with intent to commit a computer offence, and 12 counts of unauthorized access to restricted data, the police.
The police said it had searched the "youth's premises" in Glenmore Park in New South Wales in November last year.
The police statement quoted Glen McEwen, manager of cybercrime operations at the AFP, as stating that "protesting through computer intrusions and website defacements is not an appropriate method to raise public awareness about any issue."
John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and general technology breaking news from India for The IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @Johnribeiro. John's e-mail address is john_ribeiro@idg.com
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