Romanian Citizen Extradited, Jailed & Fined for DDoS Attacks Against Blizzard

SBFord

Romanian Citizen Extradited, Jailed & Fined for DDoS Attacks Against Blizzard - World of Warcraft - MMORPG.com

World of Warcraft News - The BBC (via WoWhead) is reporting that a Romanian World of Warcraft player has been jailed for perpetrating DDoS attacks against Blizzard servers in 2010. According to the Department of State, the attacks were launched against members of his own raid team over the division of raid loot and for a spot on the raid team. Calin Mateias has been jailed in the US after being extradited last fall. He has been ordered to pay nearly $30,000 to Blizzard in restitution.

Read the full story here

Albatroes

2010....A win is a win I guess.

SBFord

Albatroes said:

2010....A win is a win I guess.

Took 7 years just to extradite the guy. 

Sovrath

guys, I love you, truly I do, but proofreading!

"According to the Department of State, the attacks were launched to against members of his own raid team over division of raid loot and for a spot on the raid team. "

Anyway, great news and hopefully it will be one of many examples.

ConstantineMerus

"jailed in the US after being extradited" WTF this is way too much! Other countries can't extradite people who stole billions of their countries wealth or went on a killing spree yet over something although annoying but a silly joke compared to major crimes this guy gets extradited!?

Asm0deus

ConstantineMerus said:

"jailed in the US after being extradited" WTF this is way too much! Other countries can't extradite people who stole billions of their countries wealth or went on a killing spree yet over something although annoying but a silly joke compared to major crimes this guy gets extradited!?

This guy probably didn't have huge amounts of money to fight this extradition like those people who stole billions and even then it looks like it took years to finally get him extradited.

Sovrath

ConstantineMerus said:

"jailed in the US after being extradited" WTF this is way too much! Other countries can't extradite people who stole billions of their countries wealth or went on a killing spree yet over something although annoying but a silly joke compared to major crimes this guy gets extradited!?

I'm pretty sure that it's every countries desire to extradite serious criminals. And "yes" if they can be extradited they will be.

It very well might hinge on the relationship one country has with another or whether they have an agreement regarding extradition. Politics can play a part in it.

People have been extradited for killing as well as stealing

In this case, they were able to do it for this crime. Just because some people can't be extradited or it takes a bit "more" doesn't mean that someone with a lesser crime shouldn't.

Panther2103

ConstantineMerus said:

"jailed in the US after being extradited" WTF this is way too much! Other countries can't extradite people who stole billions of their countries wealth or went on a killing spree yet over something although annoying but a silly joke compared to major crimes this guy gets extradited!?

It isn't too much, it really sucks there are crimes where people can't get extradited over, but attacking servers that stops the ability for connections by paying customers for a long period of time, is not a joke. It's something that can open up for worse situations, like stolen data and information.

I wish they would do this for other online crimes as well. I have seen countless situations where people in other countries are Swatting streamers and things like that, but never get in trouble as it's hard to trace where those calls come from.

Phry

ConstantineMerus said:

"jailed in the US after being extradited" WTF this is way too much! Other countries can't extradite people who stole billions of their countries wealth or went on a killing spree yet over something although annoying but a silly joke compared to major crimes this guy gets extradited!?

To be fair, the people who do those kinds of things tend to need protection from liquidation rather than extradition.

alkarionlog

yeah because if its on internet it got to be true

SBFord

alkarionlog said:

yeah because if its on internet it got to be true

Did you actually read the statement from the US State Department that is linked in the full article. It is on the internet and, in this case, it IS true.

@Sovrath Given the tens of thousands of words I churn out on a weekly basis, it's a wonder there aren't more mistakes. I appreciate the heads up, but a PM would work too. Just saying. 

Sovrath

SBFord said:

alkarionlog said:

yeah because if its on internet it got to be true

Did you actually read the statement from the US State Department that is linked in the full article. It is on the internet and, in this case, it IS true.

@Sovrath Given the tens of thousands of words I churn out on a weekly basis, it's a wonder there aren't more mistakes. I appreciate the heads up, but a PM would work too. Just saying. 

Fair enough and will PM you going forward!

ConstantineMerus

Sovrath said:

ConstantineMerus said:

"jailed in the US after being extradited" WTF this is way too much! Other countries can't extradite people who stole billions of their countries wealth or went on a killing spree yet over something although annoying but a silly joke compared to major crimes this guy gets extradited!?

I'm pretty sure that it's every countries desire to extradite serious criminals. And "yes" if they can be extradited they will be.

It very well might hinge on the relationship one country has with another or whether they have an agreement regarding extradition. Politics can play a part in it.

People have been extradited for killing as well as stealing

In this case, they were able to do it for this crime. Just because some people can't be extradited or it takes a bit "more" doesn't mean that someone with a lesser crime shouldn't.

Alright. Answer me honestly. If an American citizen from the American soil DDOS a company in Romania, will that fine individual extradited to Romania as well? If you say yes I'd scratch your eyes out!

There were only 25 people in the American history who were extradited and almost all of them had dual citizenship. Or maybe you believe Americans do not engage in crimes beyond the borders

ConstantineMerus

Panther2103 said:

ConstantineMerus said:

"jailed in the US after being extradited" WTF this is way too much! Other countries can't extradite people who stole billions of their countries wealth or went on a killing spree yet over something although annoying but a silly joke compared to major crimes this guy gets extradited!?

It isn't too much, it really sucks there are crimes where people can't get extradited over, but attacking servers that stops the ability for connections by paying customers for a long period of time, is not a joke. It's something that can open up for worse situations, like stolen data and information.

I wish they would do this for other online crimes as well. I have seen countless situations where people in other countries are Swatting streamers and things like that, but never get in trouble as it's hard to trace where those calls come from.

Yes my late aunt and her entire bloodline died in a DDOS incident. 

Panther2103

ConstantineMerus said:

Panther2103 said:

ConstantineMerus said:

"jailed in the US after being extradited" WTF this is way too much! Other countries can't extradite people who stole billions of their countries wealth or went on a killing spree yet over something although annoying but a silly joke compared to major crimes this guy gets extradited!?

It isn't too much, it really sucks there are crimes where people can't get extradited over, but attacking servers that stops the ability for connections by paying customers for a long period of time, is not a joke. It's something that can open up for worse situations, like stolen data and information.

I wish they would do this for other online crimes as well. I have seen countless situations where people in other countries are Swatting streamers and things like that, but never get in trouble as it's hard to trace where those calls come from.

Yes my late aunt and her entire bloodline died in a DDOS incident. 

No but they may have gotten credit card information stolen from a DDOS attack. They leave systems vulnerable to stolen information. 

meonthissite

They need to jail lizard group or whatever their name is so it will send a message to any other idiots with an app to not ddos anyone ever again or they'll face serious jail time!

Sovrath

ConstantineMerus said:

Panther2103 said:

ConstantineMerus said:

"jailed in the US after being extradited" WTF this is way too much! Other countries can't extradite people who stole billions of their countries wealth or went on a killing spree yet over something although annoying but a silly joke compared to major crimes this guy gets extradited!?

It isn't too much, it really sucks there are crimes where people can't get extradited over, but attacking servers that stops the ability for connections by paying customers for a long period of time, is not a joke. It's something that can open up for worse situations, like stolen data and information.

I wish they would do this for other online crimes as well. I have seen countless situations where people in other countries are Swatting streamers and things like that, but never get in trouble as it's hard to trace where those calls come from.

Yes my late aunt and her entire bloodline died in a DDOS incident. 

There are different types of crime and all need to be handled.

That's like saying "well, he only shoplifted so we shouldn't be prosecuting as there are more serious crimes to be dealt with".

I'm sure there are. And I'm sure all efforts will be made to handle every one of them as time/resources allowed.

Sovrath

ConstantineMerus said:

Sovrath said:

ConstantineMerus said:

"jailed in the US after being extradited" WTF this is way too much! Other countries can't extradite people who stole billions of their countries wealth or went on a killing spree yet over something although annoying but a silly joke compared to major crimes this guy gets extradited!?

I'm pretty sure that it's every countries desire to extradite serious criminals. And "yes" if they can be extradited they will be.

It very well might hinge on the relationship one country has with another or whether they have an agreement regarding extradition. Politics can play a part in it.

People have been extradited for killing as well as stealing

In this case, they were able to do it for this crime. Just because some people can't be extradited or it takes a bit "more" doesn't mean that someone with a lesser crime shouldn't.

Alright. Answer me honestly. If an American citizen from the American soil DDOS a company in Romania, will that fine individual extradited to Romania as well? If you say yes I'd scratch your eyes out!

There were only 25 people in the American history who were extradited and almost all of them had dual citizenship. Or maybe you believe Americans do not engage in crimes beyond the borders

So what's your issue?

That a criminal was caught or that it was to the U.S.? Because I'm guessing it is the latter.

What can I say, "sorry the world isn't fair". If I had my way all criminals from all walks of life would serve maximum sentences but that's just not up to me.

That still doesn't mean that someone who is a criminal should get away with it. Also, it's not like criminals have never been extradited from the US!

Amathe

Bringing him here is no good. He should be extradited to somewhere that gives public canings. 

Scot

I do find it strange that the US likes to extradite, it costs money and time, justice takes longer to be served and I don't think in most countries you are going to get let of in any way or a shorter sentence. Indeed it might even create sympathy for the accused. Mind you the UK does this too.

If this was spying or something then it would make sense but not DOS attacks.

RBravo

Its a question of jurisdiction in regards to prosecution of crimes.  In this case it appears that a Romanian national committed a crime against a US Company through servers that were located in an undisclosed location in Europe.  That's three possible jurisdictions (the location of the perpetrator, the location of the victim, and the location of the medium (i.e. the server) through which he committed the crime) who will have to get together and decide who has the desire and best ability to proceed with the case.  Seems pretty clear that the US has the biggest interest with the crime being against a major US company and FBI as lead investigative entity.  The other jurisdictions bow out and through the guidelines of the extradition treaty between Romania and the US  which has been around since the 1930s and was just updated under the Bush administration, the perpetrator is moved to the venue of the trial.  Pretty straight forward.

Regarding jurisdictions, here's an interesting situation.  Lets say a crime occurs aboard a plane in domestic flight within the US.  All three jurisdictions (1. the origination location of the plane, 2. the arrival location of the plane, and 3. the location over which the crime took place) all have equal claim to prosecute the crime.  They have to get together and decide who has the most likelihood of putting together a successful case and move forward from there.  Of course there will be other factors like if its a high profile case, if it's an election year and it can be useful in getting someone re-elected, etc.  But you get my meaning.  Jurisdictional issues can be convoluted and confusing.

Now turn that US domestic flight into an international one and make the crime very serious (hijacking or terrorism) and you'd have to have a trial before the World Court just to figure out who gets jurisdiction.  Of course there is the US view that they have universal jurisdiction against very serious crimes impacting US citizens regardless of where they take place.  World Court be damned.  For example, how the FBI tricked Lebanese hijacker Fawaz Younis into international waters so they could abduct him and take him back to the US for trial regarding the 1985 hijacking of a Jordanian airplane with US citizens aboard.  Pretty slick move if you ask me.

bayareamj

Wow, Im amazed. Good news - Blizzard doesnt play!

Azaron_Nightblade

Well done Blizzard! May it send a message to the others that do this sort of thing for petty reasons or for "funsies".

kitarad

I don't care how it's handled I want these idiots to be punished.

Iselin

Only fined and jailed? What happened to public flogging & castration?

Kyleran

Just such an odd case for the Justice Dept to get involved with.

With tens of thousands of DDOS attacks to pursue, why this one?

Low hanging fruit, perhaps one of the few idiots stupid enough to get caught?

Are they trying to make a statement, or set a legal precedence maybe?