PICTURES of a scantily clad woman taken in an outer-Melbourne suburb have led to the arrest of a man who allegedly hacked law enforcement and government websites in the United States.

Texan Higinio O. Ochoa III has been charged by the FBI with hacking into the websites of at least four US law enforcement websites and releasing the home addresses, home telephone numbers and mobile phone numbers of dozens of police officers.

The photograph at the centre of the case.

But it was a headless photo of a bikini-clad woman in Wantirna South holding a message taunting US authorities that confirmed Ochoa's identity, according to an affidavit filed by the FBI.

The affidavit, filed in a Texas court last month, alleges that Ochoa is a member of ''CabinCr3w'', an offshoot of the hacking collective Anonymous.