Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: blizzard, world of warcraft

World of Warcraft Hacker Receives Prison Time for Blizzard Attacks

Published Wed, 09 May 2018 11:20:17 -0500

A six-year-old hacking case finally comes to a close this week as a Romanian World of Warcraft player has been sentenced after being found guilty of attacking Blizzard's European servers with multiple DDoS attacks. The U.S. Department of Justice posted the notice this week after the sentencing was laid down. Here's a quick snippet from the website.

Calin Mateias, 38, of Romania, was sentenced by United States District Judge Otis D. Wright II. Mateias, who has been in custody since November 20 after being extradited from Romania, was also ordered to pay $29,987 in restitution to Blizzard Entertainment, the Irvine-based owner and operator of World of Warcraft, to compensate the company for labor costs associated with countering the computer attacks.

Mateias was extradited to the U.S. after formally being arrested in his native country when it was discovered he was responsible for several DDoS attacks on World of Warcraft's servers from February to September 2010. Blizzard, who doesn't mess around when it comes to protecting their intellectual property, fought to have the maximum penalty thrown at Mateias, much like they went after Bossland last year that landed an $8.5 million verdict against the cheating website for developing aimbot programs for Overwatch. The year-long prison sentence from an extradition isn't going to stop all potential hackers around the globe from trying in the future, but it will probably make several of them think twice before doing it.

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