London's Metropolitan Police announced today that it has charged Ryan Cleary with five counts of violating British law in regard to cyberattacks.

Cleary, 19, of Essex was arrested yesterday in connection with a series of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks allegedly carried out by the Internet hacking ring LulzSec.

The charges include that he launched DDoS attacks against the Serious Organized Crime Agency, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, and the British Phonographic Industry.

The attack on the Serious Organized Crime Agency was among those included in a planned joint operation organized by hacker groups Anonymous and LulzSec earlier this week as part of a campaign that aimed to steal and leak classified information from banks, government agencies, and other high-profile targets.

LulzSec, for its part, has said via its Twitter feed that Cleary is not one of its key associates. Cleary owns "one of our many legitimate chat rooms on his IRC server, but that's it," the group wrote.

LulzSec is the group that has taken credit for a variety of DDoS attacks recently. Targets have included Sony, the Turkish government, PBS, the CIA, and the U.S. Senate.

Cleary is set to appear at a Westminster court tomorrow.