A teenager from Huddersfield is among six arrested on suspicion of launching cyber attacks.

The 18-year-old, who has not been named, is among a group thought to have been using a service created by a notorious hacking group which previously targeted Xbox and PlayStation networks.

The male suspects, who are all aged between 15 and 18, were held during an operation targeting alleged users of a tool known as Lizard Stresser.

A number of warrants were executed this week and the 18-year-old Huddersfield boy was arrested and bailed on Thursday by the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Cyber Crime Unit.

Others arrested were: an 18-year-old from Manchester; a 16-year-old from Northampton; and a 15-year-old from Stockport. Two other suspects, both 17, were arrested earlier this year. One is from Cardiff while the other is from Northolt, north-west London.

All six have been bailed, while a further two 18-year-olds - one from Manchester and one from Milton Keynes - were interviewed under caution.

Tony Adams, senior operations manager at the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) National Cyber Crime Unit, said: “By paying a comparatively small fee, tools like Lizard Stresser can cripple businesses financially and deprive people of access to important information and public services.

“This multi-agency operation illustrates the commitment of the NCA and its partners to pursuing people who think they can criminally disrupt important public services or legitimate businesses.”

The tool works by launching distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, in which web servers or websites are flooded with massive amounts of data, leaving them inaccessible to visitors.

Lizard Stresser is seen as a “DDos for hire” facility which gained notoriety among the hacking community after the group known as Lizard Squad claimed to have knocked Sony PlayStation and Xbox gaming services offline last Christmas.

However, none of those arrested in the latest police activity are accused of involvement in those incidents, nor are they believed to be members of Lizard Squad.

The NCA said they are suspected of maliciously deploying Lizard Stresser having bought it using alternative payment services such as Bitcoin in an attempt to remain anonymous.

Organisations believed to have been targeted by the suspects include a national newspaper, a school, gaming companies and a number of online retailers.

They have not been named and it has not been confirmed whether the attempted DDoS attacks were successful.

The arrests were made as part of an operation codenamed Vivarium co-ordinated by the NCA and involving officers from several police forces.

Mr Adams added: “One of our key priorities is to engage with those on the fringes of cyber criminality, to help them understand the consequences of cyber crime and how they can channel their abilities into productive and lucrative legitimate careers.”