Lizard Squad Teen Hacker Convicted On Over 50K Charges Of Cyber-Crime
A teenage member of the notorious hacking group Lizard Squad has received a two-year suspended sentence for numerous cyber crimes. All tallied, he was convicted of 50,700 charges related to computer crimes, and in addition to his two-year suspended sentence, he must also undergo monitoring of his online activities. He will not serve any time behind bars.
His name is Julius Kivimaki, or "Zeekill" if going by his online handle. The 17-year-old played a role in the distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on Microsoft's Xbox Live and Sony's PlayStation Network in December of last year. Ironically enough, it was Kim Dotcom who convinced Lizard Squad to call off the attacks, which he did by offering the hacking organization 3,000 lifetime premium Mega accounts worth $99 each.
Not long after, British law enforcement agents nabbed 22-year-old Vinni Omari, a self-professed member of Lizard Squad, and raided his home. He was one of two individuals that cybersecurity reporter Brian Krebs identified as being responsible for the attacks, Kivimaki being the other.
Even though Kivimaki was convicted on more than 50,000 computer crimes, the lack of jail time is disturbing to some. Count Blair Strater among them. Strater claims to be a victim of Kivimaki's repeated harassment and alleges that Kivimaki called in fake threats to American law enforcement on more than one occasion, prompting SWAT teams to arrive at his residence. The practice is known as swatting.
"I've lost complete faith in the justice system, and that includes the FBI," Strater said. "He's harmed American targets and the FBI should have stepped in by now. The reality is, Julius Kivimaki will never be made to pay for his crimes."
LIzard Squad agrees, though it's not the least bit disappointed in the outcome.
"All the people that said we would rot in prison don't want to comprehend what we've been saying since the beginning, we have free passes," Lizard Squad stated in a Twitter post in reaction to Kivimaki's lack of prison time.
His name is Julius Kivimaki, or "Zeekill" if going by his online handle. The 17-year-old played a role in the distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on Microsoft's Xbox Live and Sony's PlayStation Network in December of last year. Ironically enough, it was Kim Dotcom who convinced Lizard Squad to call off the attacks, which he did by offering the hacking organization 3,000 lifetime premium Mega accounts worth $99 each.
Not long after, British law enforcement agents nabbed 22-year-old Vinni Omari, a self-professed member of Lizard Squad, and raided his home. He was one of two individuals that cybersecurity reporter Brian Krebs identified as being responsible for the attacks, Kivimaki being the other.
Even though Kivimaki was convicted on more than 50,000 computer crimes, the lack of jail time is disturbing to some. Count Blair Strater among them. Strater claims to be a victim of Kivimaki's repeated harassment and alleges that Kivimaki called in fake threats to American law enforcement on more than one occasion, prompting SWAT teams to arrive at his residence. The practice is known as swatting.
"I've lost complete faith in the justice system, and that includes the FBI," Strater said. "He's harmed American targets and the FBI should have stepped in by now. The reality is, Julius Kivimaki will never be made to pay for his crimes."
LIzard Squad agrees, though it's not the least bit disappointed in the outcome.
"All the people that said we would rot in prison don't want to comprehend what we've been saying since the beginning, we have free passes," Lizard Squad stated in a Twitter post in reaction to Kivimaki's lack of prison time.
