A 23-year-old man who was involved in multiple distributed denial-of-service attacks in December 2013 and January 2014 that targeted online gaming services has been sentenced to 27 months in prison.

Austin Thompson, known online as DerpTroll, was part of a group known as DerpTrolling that attacked and successfully targeted Sony Online Entertainment, Valve Inc.’s Steam and Electronic Arts Inc.’s Origin in DDoS attacks. The group later claimed to have attacked the PlayStation Network, Windows Live and 2k Games Studios in November 2014, although that was not in the time period covered in Thompson’s indictment.

Thompson’s downfall was some years in the making. Operating a Twitter account for the group, the Utah resident often taunted targets of the group, sometimes live-tweeting its activities. Drawing the ire of gaming fans, Thompson was doxed or exposed by online vigilantes in January 2014. A later post on the DerpTrolling Twitter account at the time, presumably from Thompson, said federal agents had shown up at their home but the suspects had escaped through a bathroom window.

Little was heard from Thompson again until he was arrested in 2018. Thompson pleaded guilty to a charge of “damage to a protected computer” in November after agreeing to a plea agreement.

“Denial-of-service attacks cost businesses and individuals millions of dollars annually,” U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer said in a statement Tuesday that got attention today. “We are committed to prosecuting hackers who intentionally disrupt internet access.”

In addition to serving 27 months behind bars, Thompson was also ordered to pay $95,000 in restitution to Daybreak Games, the company formerly known as Sony Online Entertainment. Thompson currently remains free on a bond and has been ordered to surrender to authorities Aug. 27 to begin serving his sentence.

Thompon’s sentencing is only one part of a broader range of attacks targeting gaming services in the period.

Prior to the emergence of DerpTrolling on the scene, a group by the name of LulzSec was fond of targeting gaming services. Later in 2014 after DerpTrolling’s first major take downs, LizardSquad entered the fray in targeting gaming networks as well.

The similarities don’t end there. Numerous members of Lulzsec were subsequently arrested and sentenced to jail as were LizardSquad members in the years after each group’s major attacks.

Photo: Sony