Hacker sentenced to two years in prison for DDoS attacks on game servers

Austin Thompson, the person behind the DDoS attacks back in late 2013 and early 2014, has been sentenced to spend two years in prison and pay at least $95,000 in restitution to Daybreak Game Company, formerly known as Sony Online Entertainment.

A DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack is when a hacker person or group cause people to be unable to access certain systems due to tactical flooding of a target’s server, host, or network. The target eventually crashes, preventing any further access.

Thompson, 23, pleaded guilty to the attacks back in November 2018. He admitted to being a part of DerpTrolling, a hacker group, and was charged with causing ‘Damage to a Protected Computer, 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(5)(A)’.

The official news release says that Thompson “typically used the Twitter account @DerpTrolling to announce that an attack was imminent and then posted “scalps” (screenshots or other photos showing that victims’ servers had been taken down) after the attack”.

Although Thompson is currently free on bond, he has been ordered to surrender to authorities on August 23rd in order to begin his sentence. The maximum penalty for this sentence is up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Polygon report that prosecutors in the US and Finland have also successfully secured convictions for two members of Lizard Squad, who also attempted DDoS attacks on Daybreak Game Company back in 2014.

Article image source: Glassdoor.