A Sydney IT professional claiming to be a leader of an international hacking group has been charged with breaking into an Australian government website.
The 24-year-old man was arrested at his office, at a private IT firm in the city, on Tuesday night (AEST).
He was charged with hacking into a government website, believed to belong to a state agency, and modifying data on it - offences which carry a combined maximum penalty of 12 years in jail.
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Australian Federal Police (AFP) said the man, from Point Clare on the NSW Central Coast, was a self-proclaimed leader of the hacking collective Lulz Security (Lulzsec).
The group has previously claimed responsibility for attacking America's CIA, the UK's Sun newspaper and numerous government agencies.
AFP Cyber Crimes Commander Glen McEwen said the man's job in the IT sector gave him access to sensitive information, which allowed to him to carry out the attack.
"The AFP believes this man's skill sets and access to this type of information presented a considerable risk to Australian society," he said.
"Our early intervention interrupted him before he could commit any further serious offences.
"But the ability to interrupt online trading, online transactions for governments, can have serious consequences in the long-term."
Known by the online identity 'Aush0k', it's alleged the man used a laptop to gain unlawful access to the website earlier this month.
Officers declined to name which authority the website belonged to, but said it was not a federal agency.
The man's online nickname was known to international police forces and AFP officers began investigating his activities about two weeks ago.
It's alleged he acted alone.
He was given conditional bail to appear at Woy Woy Local Court on the Central Coast on May 15.
The AFP says it's not clear if the alleged hack marks a ramp up in activities for Lulzsec, which is said to be an offshoot of another hacking collective, Anonymous.
Lulzsec, which claims to carry out cyber attacks for laughs - or "lulz" - appeared to shut down its activities in 2011 after a relatively short but disruptive period of hacking and denial of service attacks.
It also posted sensitive data online, including passwords and email addresses from a number of Australian organisations in 2011.
