Skip to main content

Man behind Daybreak Games DDoS sentenced to two years in prison

Series of attacks against formerly-Sony Online Entertainment, Battle.net, Dota 2, others also asked to pay $95,000 in damages

The man responsible for a series of DDoS (denial of service) attacks against Daybreak Games (formerly Sony Online Entertainment) and other gaming companies has been sentenced to 27 months in prison.

According to a US Department of Justice press release, 23-year-old Austin Thompson of Utah has entered a plea agreement, pleading guilty to a charge of "Damage to a protected computer."

Thompson is just one of the members of a hacking group known as "DerpTrolling" that attacked multiple gaming companies and games in 2013 and 2014, including Dota 2, League of Legends, and Blizzard's Battle.net. These attacks would be announced via DerpTrolling's Twitter account, which would later post evidence showing the "success" of the attack.

In addition, Thompson is being instructed to pay $95,000 in damages to Daybreak Games.

Read this next

Rebekah Valentine avatar
Rebekah Valentine: Rebekah arrived at GamesIndustry in 2018 after four years of freelance writing and editing across multiple gaming and tech sites. When she's not recreating video game foods in a real life kitchen, she's happily imagining herself as an Animal Crossing character.
Related topics