UK teen gets 12 months for DDoS attack on gambling firm

Pete - Wednesday, November 25, 2015, Written by- Wednesday, November 25, 2015, Online poker

A British teenager was sentenced to 12 months in prison last week after admitting in court he was responsible for a DDoS attack on an online gambling site that resulted in an almost £20,000 loss for the unnamed company.

Max Whitehouse, 19, intentionally flooded the site with virtual traffic to the point where it could no longer operate. He wept in court as he was handed the sentence, which will be suspended for one year.

Strangely, he had used his mother’s social media account to announce his plan of attack some two years prior to the incident itself.

Off the back of an authorised search of his home, police also found the young man had been buying and collecting illegal weaponry – which included gas canisters, a stun device disguised as an iPhone and several knuckle dusters - online from China.

“He was a hoarder of weapons, rather than someone with any criminal intent”, argued defence lawyer Adrian Reynolds. “It was an offence of staggering naivety.”

On top of the jail time, Whitehouse was also ordered to pay £200 towards the cost of the prosecution and had all of his illegal weapons permanently confiscated.

“He has been living a virtual life and not a real one”, said Judge Michael Stokes, who was “satisfied” that Whitehouse had no intention to sell or distribute the weapons he’d purchased.

“At the time you were extremely naïve, and you just wanted to see if you could actually do it. You were living a life through a screen, rather than outside. You should take up a sport like rugby or something.”