Calin Mateias, a Romanian hacker who was extradited to the United States on November 20 after being indicted for launching DDoS attacks against Blizzard’sWorld of Warcraftservers, has been sentenced to one year in federal prison. Additionally, Mateias will have to pay $29,987 to Blizzard to compensate it for the time spent countering his DDoS attacks againstWorld of Warcraft.
Blizzard’s successful case against Mateias isn’t the only court case it has won recently. Just last year, the company won a lawsuit againstOverwatchcheatmaker Bossland, who was ordered to pay $8,563,600 in restitution.
From the Bossland case to this more recent case against Mateias, Blizzard has made it clear that it will passionately protect its assets, and is serious about fighting back against DDoS attacks and cheating.
This should come as no surprise, as cheating in Blizzard’s online games can ruin the experience for other paying customers, potentially harming its reputation in the process. DDoS attacks can also impact Blizzard’s bottom line, and sinceWorld of Warcrafthas been thetarget of numerous DDoS attacksover the years, it makes sense for the company to crack down on this behavior.
However, it remains to be seen if Mateias’s sentence will be enough to convince others to think twice before launching DDoS attacks on online video games. While it may prevent one hacker from attacking the game’s servers, others may think that they will still be able to get away with it.
DDoS attacks may continue to plagueWorld of Warcraftand other online games moving forward, but attackers can expect Blizzard to pursue similar legal action against them if they are caught.
