Mumsnet hacking: Haslemere teenager faces cyber attack charges

Users were made to reset their passwords as a "precautionary measure" following the attacks in 2015

A teenager has been charged with a hacking attack on Mumsnet, which caused the parenting site to reset its 7.7 million members' passwords.

David Buchanan, 18, of Haslemere, Surrey, faces two counts of hacking and one of impairing the operation of or hindering access to a computer.

The charges relate to "computer intrusion and damage to network profiles" in July and August 2015.

Mr Buchanan is expected to appear at Guildford Magistrates' Court on 7 June.

The Mumsnet homepage was redirected to a now suspended Twitter profile page and had some posts edited during a cyber attack in August.

It was also subjected to a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, where an attempt is made to force a site offline by swamping it with internet traffic.

The Metropolitan Police said two 17-year-old boys who were were interviewed under caution in relation to the incidents had been eliminated from the inquiry.

Mumsnet users were made to reset their passwords as a "precautionary measure" following the attacks.