A Nottinghamshire man faces charges of computer hacking on Friday over an alleged attack on the website of London dating agency loveandfriends.com.

Matthew Byrne, 38, from Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, is accused of unauthorised modification of a computer (contrary to section three of the Computer Misuse Act 1990). He's also accused of attempting to blackmail his alleged victim with unwarranted demands for payment.

Byrne was charged on 18 May following a year-long investigation by officers at the Computer Crime Unit at Scotland Yard. Byrne is due to appear at Bow Street Magistrates Court on Friday (26 May) at 2pm. ®

Related stories

• Dating site hacker avoids jail (8 November 2006)
• Thousands hit by AT&T website hack (30 August 2006)
• Man accused of crashing UBS servers (8 June 2006)
• Cybersecurity contests go national (5 June 2006)
• Teen accused of 'email bombing' faces retrial (12 May 2006)
• Home Office pushes tough anti-hacker law (26 January 2006)
• Net scam comes from Russia with love (17 September 2005)
• Dating site hack suspect arrested (7 April 2005)