Man Faces Up To 10-Years Jail Term For Ddos Attacks Against Gaming Company

A 23-year-old man, Austin Thompson, from Utah has pleaded guilty to launching series of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) of service attacks against several online gaming companies and servers between 2013 and 2014.

According to a press release by the US Justice Department, Thompson flooded his victim's servers with heavy traffic to take them offline. These junk traffic were directed at online gaming companies and servers including those of Sony Online Entertainment.

After launching these attacks, Thompson would go on Twitter using @DerpTrolling to post screenshots of his victims server that he had downed after the attack. Often, these downed servers would stay offline for hours, incurring heavy business damage to the owners.


"In today's world. cyber crime is an immune threat that affects private, commercial, and government sectors alike," said FBI Special Agent in Charge John Brown. "The FBI's capacity to respond to cyber incidents is enhanced through collaboration with affected industries and partnership in the community to prevent and combat these threats. Together, we will thwart these cyber criminals who sasaran our communities business and infrastructure."

 According to the US Justice Department, Thompson has pleaded guilty to causing damage that exceeds $95,000 to a protected, which he now face up to 10 years of prison sentence, a fine of $250,000, and 3 years of supervised release.

Also Read: Satanic Temple Sues Netflix For $50M Over Use Of Baphomet Deity In Sabrina

Kaspersky Lab notes that the global cost of a data breach for enterprises has risen from 11 percent in 2017. In the US alone, the average cost of a cyber attack for enterprises has grown from $1.2 million in 2016 to $1.3 million in 2017.

"Denial-of-service attacks cost millions of dollars annually,' said US Attorney Adam Braverman. "We are committed to finding and prosecuting those who disrupt businesses, often for nothing more than ego."

The sentencing is scheduled for March 1, 2019 and will be carried out by United States District Judge Jeffrey Miller.