Anonymous Hacker Gets Six Years In Prison For DDoS Attacks (zdnet.com) 76
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: An Ohio man was sentenced last month to six years in prison for a series of DDoS attacks against websites for the city of Akron, Ohio, and the Akron police department. The man, 33-year-old James Robinson, was arrested in May 2019 and pleaded guilty to all accusations, most of which were easy to prove, as Robinson had publicly documented all the attacks on the @AkronPhoenix420 Twitter profile while they happened.
The account contains a litany of tweets about DDoS attacks Robinson allegedly carried out. Targets included websites for the Department of Defense, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of the Treasury, and NATO. These attacks never caused any mass outages, and two cyber-security firms which provide DDoS mitigation services said they were never aware of his activities until his arrest in 2018. On Twitter, through the AkronPhoenix420 persona, Robinson always associated with the Anonymous hacker collective, often tagging tweets to suggest they were part of broader attacks -- although no evidence has been found to suggest he collaborated with others for coordinated attacks. [...] In court documents, the FBI said that some of Robinson's DDoS attacks against Akron's official website were successful, and most notably a series of attacks he carried out in early August 2017 that caused prolonged downtime. [...] Following his guilty plea, Robinson was sentenced to six years in prison on October 3, last month. He was also ordered to pay $668,684 in restitution to Akron officials.
The account contains a litany of tweets about DDoS attacks Robinson allegedly carried out. Targets included websites for the Department of Defense, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of the Treasury, and NATO. These attacks never caused any mass outages, and two cyber-security firms which provide DDoS mitigation services said they were never aware of his activities until his arrest in 2018. On Twitter, through the AkronPhoenix420 persona, Robinson always associated with the Anonymous hacker collective, often tagging tweets to suggest they were part of broader attacks -- although no evidence has been found to suggest he collaborated with others for coordinated attacks. [...] In court documents, the FBI said that some of Robinson's DDoS attacks against Akron's official website were successful, and most notably a series of attacks he carried out in early August 2017 that caused prolonged downtime. [...] Following his guilty plea, Robinson was sentenced to six years in prison on October 3, last month. He was also ordered to pay $668,684 in restitution to Akron officials.
$668,684 (Score:2)
I always wonder, when I read court cases like this, like --
"He was also ordered to pay $668,684 in restitution to Akron officials."
How exactly does that happening? I'm imagining this guy lives in an apartment, maybe has $10,000, $20,000 in the bank, ... Isn't making a whole lot of money. Does how does that work out?
He's 33, so he's got some time, minus 6 years in jail, ... Do they say, "You need to get a high paying job, and then make 8% annual interest payments", or, ..? Is there a bank that finances
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In my country, there is court executioner, who has legal right to act with your bank account, and transfer part of your salary (of course leaving necessary for monthly bills). It might take some 30 years to pay it off, or he might not ever pay it off completely. Probably easier to just become homeless, and stop working at all
He can't take away what you need to survive. (Score:3, Interesting)
I knwe an ex-boss of a company with a debt like that here in Germany.
He still worked at a small company as co-Boss, drove a nice car, had a nice house (minus some valuables), and made $2000 a month. But he earned way more, and the rest went to paying off the debt. And his accound did not hold six figues anymore either.
The reasoning is quite sound, and goes like this: If he does a good job, the debt has a higher chance of being paid off in his lifetime. And he can't exactly pull in nice clients without a pro
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Interest is still being charged on the outstanding amount, so it's in the debtors best interest to pay it off as soon as possible, and while the debt is outstanding his credit ra
Re: He can't take away what you need to survive. (Score:2)
Where did race come into this?
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where the obvious "muslim pro-pedophilia" troll [slashdot.org] decided to.
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Got to pay the gov first?
Re:Depends on the juristiction (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh look, it's that nasty divisive rhetoric once again, trying to divide us and make us fight with one another. If I didn't know better, I'd say this was shilling Putin's line. It certainly serves the interests of the powerful, as George Carlin accurately pointed out: [iamawake.co]
"That's all the media and the politicians are ever talking about - the things that separate us, things that make us different from one another. That's the way the ruling class operates in any society. They try to divide the rest of the people. They keep the lower and middle classes fighting with each other so that they, the rich, can run off with all the fucking money!"
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Another Putinbot. You're getting paid, I assume.
Well, well - I was thinking my rant about Republican supporters was exaggerated, but then here you come and confirm the worst stereotypes.
Tell us - was it the part where I called for honesty, patriotism, responsibility and honor that confused you? Do those words sound foreign to you? And do you truly think only a Putinbot would care about those, and never an American?
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Are you seriously trying to blame the Republicans for Obamacare, when they had, literally, zero input into its contents? When not one Republican voted for it in either the House or the Senate?
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Are you seriously trying to blame the Republicans for Obamacare
In 2017 they controlled both houses of Congress and the presidency.
They had the opportunity to do anything ... and they voted to keep Obamacare.
It was their chance to put up or shut up, and they had NOTHING.
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The Affordable Care Act SHOULD have been a republican wet dream.. not pushing citizens not into "entitlement" programs , but pushing them into the free market. Think of the rush of long term profits into the private sector.
In fact it actually was a republican dream because Obama openly borrowed much of the program as it was devised by long time republican Mitt Romney and his chums.
But since BLACK MAN BAD, evil Obama wanted to help both his opposition across the isle and the millions of uninsured Americans i
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But since BLACK MAN BAD ...
Because of course all Republicans are deplorable racists?
No everything is about race.
People like you are helping to re-elect Donald Trump in 2020.
What is the republican stance on millions and millions of Americans having access to healthcare through the free market?
They voted to keep Obamacare, so obviously they are for it. They are just hypocrites about it.
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But since BLACK MAN BAD ...
Because of course all Republicans are deplorable racists?
No everything is about race.
People like you are helping to re-elect Donald Trump in 2020.
What is the republican stance on millions and millions of Americans having access to healthcare through the free market?
They voted to keep Obamacare, so obviously they are for it. They are just hypocrites about it.
It was a joke. are you seriously taking me at my word?
now do you get it?
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now do you get it?
No, I don't.
I guess the punchline is that you implied that all Republicans are racist when only some of them are.
How is that funny?
Why did nobody laugh when Hillary said it?
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Romney tried to veto the Massachusetts health-care bill, and the Democrat controlled legislature overrode his veto. Blaming Romney for a program he tried to stop is just as bad as blaming Republicans for Obamacare.
Next, the ACA isn't about a "free market". In fact, it's a large step away from free markets, as it is a massive government intervention. It forces people to buy a product, and forces the suppliers to supply specific features and goods. And then, to top it all off, the government directly part
It's still a Republican plan (Score:2)
Healthcare is a human right. For profit health insurance is useless, cruel and kills people for a fast buck.
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No, the individual mandate was one of a large number of possible health care reform proposals that were discussed in a Heritage Foundation publication. Heritage did not invent - or propose - it [heritage.org]. There were other articles specifically opposing that one, in fact - and none that supported it. There was merely the mention of it, and how it would be needed for government controlled health care.
Are you so surprised that Right-wing think tanks allow people to publish ideas that they don't actually support, for
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Wait, are you suggesting that because none of the dozens of proposals to modify or replace Obamacare passed that the Republicans are now responsible for the program in the first place? When did causality become variant? Did the Democrats become responsible for Reagan's tax changes in 2010 because they didn't undo them? Will the Democrats become responsible for the ACA again next time they have a majority in the Federal government, or is this a one-time blameshifting?
The truth is, in 2017 the Republicans
Re: I calls it like I sees it (Score:1)
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Like any cancer, the ACA is hard to remove once it spreads. There were enough blue bloods that knew that their constituents would be unhappy if they lost some of the more-popular features of the ACA (like guaranteed coverage for those with pre-existing conditions). Trump made a big deal about replacing it, which short-circuited any remaining effort to kill the ACA directly.
The Republicans of 1994/1995 would have pushed Trump to axe it outright. They aren't quite the same party anymore.
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and his PO Officer. If he's in a red state ...
He was charged in federal court.
That explains both the lack of a trial and the harsh penalty.
Only rich people can afford to go trial in federal court. So he had no choice but to accept a very bad plea bargain. It serves him right for being poor.
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and his PO Officer. If he's in a red state ...
He was charged in federal court.
That explains both the lack of a trial and the harsh penalty.
Only rich people can afford to go trial in federal court. So he had no choice but to accept a very bad plea bargain. It serves him right for being poor.
stupid "poor" asshole. Let that be a lesson to you, let that be a lesson TO ALL OF YOU!
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well he can learn how to rob the Kwik-E-Mart in the joint maybe banks as well.
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well he can learn how to rob the Kwik-E-Mart in the joint maybe banks as well.
He won't be going to that kind of prison.
He is going to a minimum-security federal prison. Armed robbers go to high-security state prisons.
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So, Federal PMITA prison then?
No. There is little violence in federal prison, and even less in min-sec.
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I suppose they are indirectly ruining his life? Seems like this decision is meant as a strong deterrent to anyone who might think of pulling off a ddos attack.
Anonymous Hacker Gets.... (Score:1)
The man, 33-year-old James Robinson.....
How does such stupidity get past multiple editors?
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Anons aren't that stupid, however.
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you do realise Anonymous is the group? it isn't saying he was anonymous.
You do REALIZE that "group" is slang for gang in this context? It isn't saying that Anonymous is a group, it's saying that number one you spelled realise wrongly, and number two you should be careful when correcting others.
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number one you spelled realise wrongly
Boys and girls, we give you the product of the American school system.
To help you out with that: “realize” is spelled “realise” in parts of the world which use the British version of our fair language. By and large, you use a z (which they pronounce “zed”) where they would use an s in such constructions.
Re: Anonymous Hacker Gets.... (Score:2)
The irony of the above comment. (Score:2)
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The man, 33-year-old James Robinson.....
How does such stupidity get past multiple editors?
Goddammit you beat me to it, I was reading over everything just to be sure and sure enough. My post? :
Anonymous?
James Robinson
How does the city show that kind of loss? (Score:1)
You said "in a just world". (Score:1)
That already implies incompatibility with concepts like punishment aka revenge aka childish lashing out at the closest scapegoat in the graph of cause and effect.
It also implies, people are not so retarded that they would think like that.
Did you mean "In a perfect 'functioning' idiocracy"?
the 64000$ question (Score:1)
Manpower, for one. (Personpower?) Mitigation (Score:1)
For one, a correct response to a DDOS is to engage a company such as Cloudflare which has a team of professionals and millions of dollars of equipment for handling DDOS. That costs $$$ when you need it done today. Cloudflare is good at what they do.
It might be a good idea to engage someone like myself to help with the response, recovery, and making sure it doesn't happen again. I'm not cheap, especially if I have to travel. That's if you knew my phone number. Since you don't, you have to call HP or some
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Re:How does the city show that kind of loss? (Score:4, Interesting)
Well obviously it is. A temporary electronic digital roadblock that leaves no damage. Yet, turn up with an actual dump truck and dump rubbish at the entry that requires removal and does damage, probably a misdemenour.
In this case the penalty far, far, out weighs the actual damage, temporary digital roadblock, anything beyond a minor fine and good behaviour bond shows insane levels of bias and corruption.
So compare to the crime, the punishment is definitely cruel and unjust. In this case the damage was zero as it was handled by services specifically designed to handle it, so interesting. Perhaps the real penalty was for claiming to be part of 'Anonymous' and anonymous anarchist activism collective.
You can not be a part of 'Anonymous' if you claim to be a part of 'Anonymous' to claim so is to immediately leave the 'Anonymous' state and hence not be a part of 'Anonymous'. You can only be in 'Anonymous' if you are anonymous about being a part of 'Anonymous" ;DDD.
"Anonymous" ... public Twatter profile ... (Score:1)
... ERROR: DOES NOT COMPUTE!
To proceed, turn off retarded mode in the brain settings.
1st in WI is not a criminal thing (Score:2)
1st in WI is not a criminal thing
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1st in WI is not a criminal thing
First rape or first dui/dwi?
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Rapists and drunk drivers who have killed people don't get six years in prison.
America, LOL
Yeah they do.
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They do in my State.
We all wear the mask, anyways (Score:1)
If I were the judge (Score:2)
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The kicks are fine, but cruel punishment is prohibited by the constitution.
Hacking - not even once (Score:1)
Worse than selling meth to middle schoolers, right? The law treats compulsive shoplifters better than someone that does something unwanted with wide open poorly-secured computer networks.
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Federal charges for meth trafficking is up to 40 years.
Don't do crimes across state lines. Keep it in your neighborhood.
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My long time friend foolishly bought heroin for his girlfriend across state lines, enough for his plan to get her slowly off it. He went to prison and it sucked for him, but he didn't go away for 40 years, or even 6.
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Odds are that you're right, 72% chance he's white to be precise.
Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)
Allegedly? (Score:2)
The account contains a litany of tweets about DDoS attacks Robinson allegedly carried out
He plead guilty, was convicted and sentenced. It's not alleged anymore. He admitted to it.
Lost (Score:1)
Should ddos attacks be against the law? (Score:1)
For instance, it is probably the only form of protest that could work on internet based companies.
Not that you'd be able to, anyway. Trying to ddos google would be funny; it's basically their business model
IMHO the ddos should be considered on it's impact, say, ddos a hospital, people got hurt because of that, then it would be a form of assault? In his case, if it meant that robbers or terrorists got away, then that (??) I am evidently not a lawyer, so I might be completely off here
Just smart enough to sort of do something wrong. (Score:1)
Smart enough to know what a ddos attack is, not smart enough to do it and stupid enough to tell everyone about it.
What next, rob a bank on live camera?