DDoS Daybreak Games Hacker Gets 2 Years Prison Sentence and Fined Thousands
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Distributed denial of service(DDoS) attacks flood a target server with huge amounts of pointless network traffic. This locks up the servers processors with needless tasks and stop genuine users from gaining access to the actual service that is normally on offer. Its all quite simple really and a handful of coordinated computers that are set to have this one DDoS task can pull companies offline for periods of time.
When those companies rely on providing their service at specific times, lets say on launch day for a high profile multiplayer game, that can have huge financial implications to massive companies.
In 2013 and 2014 a guy called Austin Thompson carried out a number of these attacks on the MMO operator, Daybreak, which was formerly called Sony Online Entertainment and over the coming years the US law and SOE legal teams caught up with Austin. Austin pleaded guilty to charges of “Damage to a Protected Computer” in November of 2018 and now he has been handed a $95,000 fine and a 2 year prison sentence.
He used his Twitter account DerpTrolling to announce and share screenshots that showcased the effectiveness and damage caused by his DDoS attacks.
Robert Brewer, US Attorney, said “We are committed to prosecuting hackers who intentionally disrupt internet access. Denial-of-service attacks cost businesses and individuals millions of dollars annually”
DerpTrolling claimed involvement in an attack against Blzzards World of Warcraft servers back in Nov 2014 as well as one against 2K Game’s Servers, PSN, Windows Live. These gaming giants so far have not had anything to do with this sentencing. I wonder, perhaps they are waiting for their moment in a couple of years to begin their own legal claims against Thompson. “Welcome home from prison Thompson, I represent Microsoft….”
His sentence begins in full on August 23rd of this year.
Our Favorite Comments
9
“HahahahaPlay stupid games, win stupid prizes”
darknatexs –
5
“DDoS is also a big problem in R6 Siege. Hope this has at least some impact on that.”
hitechashrut –
1
“so he went online to tell everyone that he done illegal stuff, this clown was just looking for clout”
soldierdex –
