"Cyber saboteur" charged with targeting Oxbridge

London (Reuters) - A 20-year-old man is to appear in court next month, charged with trying to bring down the websites of elite Oxford and Cambridge universities, police said on Friday.

Lewys Martin, from Kent, faces 17 counts relating to attacks on corporate websites, including that of Kent Police.

"He's not being charged with hacking," a Kent Police spokesman said. "He's being charged with attempting to bring the wesbites down."

Oxford University has been targeted in the past. This summer a group that claimed to be affiliated with hacking group Anonymous attacked a subsite of the Physics department.

Aware, however, that they are a considered a target, the university has various mechanisms in place to try and prevent attacks, a university spokesman said.

In April, Oxford was recognised by GCHQ, the British government's communications intelligence agency, as an "Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research."

Martin will appear at Maidstone magistrates court on December20

(Reporting By Peter Schwartzstein; editing by Steve Addison)