British authorities have arrested an 18-year-old man in connection with the recent hacking that shut down Sony’s Playstation Network and Microsoft’s Xbox Live.
The man from Southport, England, is also accused of making false threats in the United States, known as “swatting,” or suggesting a threat exists to rally a SWAT team response. However, authorities declined to say exactly where the threat occurred, according to ABC News.
The suspect, who has not been named, was also arrested on suspicion of accessing unauthorized computer material and issuing kill threats. Police went on to seize a host of electronic and digital devices from his home.
Britain’s South East Organized Crime Unit partnered with the FBI on the investigation.
Over Christmas, hackers identified as the Lizard Squad claimed credit for disabling user access to PlayStation and XBox’s respective live gaming networks for days, TheWrap previously reported. The group said it released personal and credit card numbers from users.
The teen is the second person U.K. police have arrested over the Lizard Squad attacks: on Dec. 31, they announced the arrest of 22-year-old Vinnie Omari, who will appear in court in two months.
The holiday season outages blocked users from streaming content via apps like Netflix and Hulu and also prevented them from playing online games. It was an especially inconvenient time considering the frequency with which gaming consoles and new video games are given as holiday gifts, and would-be users expressed there disappointment.
The latest arrest came while U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron was in Washington, D.C. to meet with President Barack Obama to discuss cyberthreats and other issues.
Ahead of talks on Friday, which lasted just over an hour, it was announced that both countries are to carry out “war game” cyberattacks on each other as part of a new joint defence against online criminals, reported the BBC.