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Another "hacker" responsible for the DDoS cyber attacks on Sony Online Entertainment is on his way to prison. Austin Thompson has been sentenced to over two years in prison for his role in attacking online services back in 2013. The announcement came Tuesday from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California.
Thompson, now 23, was part of DerpTrolling, a group that claimed responsibility for denial of service attacks against several Sony Online Entertainment titles, Battle.net, League of Legends, and even Dota 2. Sony Online Entertainment, now known as Daybreak Games, was also attacked six months later by the group called Lizard Squad. Lizard Squad was responsible for a series of similar DDoS attacks and even made a bomb threat against Daybreak's then president, John Smedley.
In November 2018, Thompson pleaded guilty for his role in the DerpTrolling attacks on the former Sony studio. Thompson's plea agreement also states that he was the one in control of posting from the DerpTrolling Twitter account. The Twitter account was used to announce that an attack was about to happen. As the attack was happening, the account then posted screenshots and other pieces of media showing that the victim's servers had been taken offline.
Thompson will begin serving his sentence on August 23. He will also have to pay $95,000 in restitution to Daybreak.
