We get so many tips about MMOs being DDOSed that we often don’t even cover them unless they stretch on for days or there’s something extraordinary involved with them, like extortion attempts. So it might be tempting to assume that no one’s ever brought to justice for causing these outages for millions of people and costing the studios fat sacks of cash.
But it’s not true. As MMO Fallout noticed, yet another one of the e-thugs responsible for DDOSing SOE (now Daybreak) back in 2013 and 2014 has finally been brought to justice. Utah resident Austin Thompson, leader of the Derp Trolling hacker group, has apparently pleaded guilty to the charges against him and has been sentenced to more than two years in prison, plus $95,000 in damages to Daybreak.
“According to the plea agreement, between December 2013 and January 2014, Thompson’s attacks, which flooded his victims’ servers with enough internet traffic to take them offline, were directed mainly at online gaming companies and servers, including then San Diego-based Sony Online Entertainment. 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. The attacks took down game servers and related computers around the world, often for hours at a time. According to the plea agreement, Thompson’s actions caused at least $95,000 in damages.”
Happy Fourth of July!
Another DDOS e-thug has landed jail time – this one owes Daybreak $95K
Another e-thug responsible for DDOSing SOE years back is brought to justice
Lizard Squad leader convicted for 2014 cyberattacks on H1Z1 and John Smedley
UK authorities arrest teens with suspected Lizard Squad ties
Smed calls out Lizard Squad e-thug convicted of 50,700 cybercrimes
