Canadian police said on Saturday they had charged the father of an alleged 15-year-old hacker, known online as ``Mafiaboy,'' of conspiring with another man to commit assault in an unrelated hacking case.

Mafiaboy was himself charged by Canadian police on Wednesday with mischief in one of the biggest cyber attacks in history. The charges relate to the jamming of the CNN's Website and up to 1,200 CNN-hosted sites for four hours on February 8. Mafiaboy, who cannot be named under a Canadian law that protects the identities of juveniles charged with crimes, was arrested last Saturday and formally charged last Monday by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). As a result of the law, the father cannot be identified as well. Canadian media have reported that Mafiaboy's 45-year-old father was arrested along with his son last Saturday in Montreal. The alleged conspiracy came to light as a result of the telephone tapping that Canadian police had been conducting at the home. The alleged target would be a business colleague, the Canadian Press (CP) news agency reported. A second 48-year-old man was arrested last Wednesday and also charged with conspiracy to commit assault. Both men are to appear in court again May 17, CP said. Montreal police said on Saturday they could not confirm the information. The February Internet attack created chaos on Web sites put up by CNN, Yahoo, eBay, Amazon, Excite and ETrade. About 1,200 Web sites served by them couldn't be accessed for about four hours. Police inspectors said investigators were able to track the 15-year-old boy in part because he bragged about his alleged exploit in messages sent to Internet chat rooms. The RCMP charged Mafiaboy with two counts of mischief to data, which carries a maximum sentence for juveniles up to two years in detention and a C$1,000 (US$675) fine. Mafiaboy has been released but his bail conditions include not using a computer except for academic purposes and under the supervision of a teacher. He is also prohibited from connecting to the Internet or frequenting stores that sell computers or computer paraphernalia. Police seized all of the computers and related material found at the boy's home.