If you were one of countless gamers lamenting the loss of Xbox Live and PlayStation Network service in December 2014, justice has been served. Finland has convicted Julius Kivimaki of over 50,000 counts of cyber-crime, including harassment, fraud, and data breaches.

Kivimaki was identified in late 2014, and participated in an interview with SkyNews under the alias “Ryan” (below). During the conversation, he admits that he and a small number of others perpetrated the attacks as part of a group called "Lizard Squad," claiming that they were done to raise awareness of the weak security at Sony and Microsoft.

Ultimately, the attacks were stopped by MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom, who offered the group a number of vouchers for his content hosting platform. The total value of this bribe amounted to $300,000.

According to Finnish news outlet Keleva, as reported by Daily Dot, Kivimaki’s sentence amounts to two years of suspended sentence.

[Source: Keleva.fi via Daily Dot, Krebs on Security, Sky News]

Originally published on July 7, 2015, at 3:08 p.m. Central.

Our Take

A two year suspended sentence doesn’t seem to be nearly enough when weighed against the financial impact suffered by Sony and Microsoft and the sheer number of crimes. If governments are going to send a message that sticks, the punishments need to be stiffer.