The head of the MMO studio DGC (H1Z1, Everquest Next, Planetside 2), John Smedley, sees a sentencing for “cybercrime” as too lenient for a minor hacker. He forced a commercial airplane, in which Smedley was sitting, to land with a bomb threat.
Winter of the Lizard Ends with the Wrath of the Victims
The wheels of justice grind thoroughly but slowly. The current events are a sequel to unpleasant things from late 2014 when “Lizardsquad” made headlines. Most players will think of Lizardsquad at Christmas when outages of PSN and XBox Live robbed so many of their Christmas gaming. However, the head of the MMO studio DGC (formerly Sony Online Entertainment) John Smedley has other, much more personal memories.
He was on a commercial flight that suddenly had to make an emergency landing last August. There was a bomb threat that was later revealed to be directed at Smedley. Later, extremely unpleasant photos surfaced online, intended to ridicule John Smedley, who was somehow identified as the “Sony Online head”, to insult and attack him. With further cyber attacks, it was made clear that they wanted to personally target the occasionally loud and rough studio head and his family. Which apparently succeeded.
One of the responsible wrongdoers has been caught by the justice system for quite some time. But according to Smedley on his Twitter channel, he thinks he got away far too leniently. The 17-year-old received 2 years of probation, along with restrictions on his internet activity and the obligation to combat cybercrime himself.
Smedley: I’ll come for you
This perceived injustice prompted Smedley to make several tweets. The 17-year-old is said to be a sociopath. And he will get what he deserves. There are still numerous crimes to atone for. In prison, he has already taken quite a beating, which the media has kept quiet about.
Smedley plans to sue the boy’s parents. He will come for them, as stated in seemingly angry tweets.
His parents need to be held accountable for his actions in addition to his going to jail. @what_security – So I’m coming for you Julius.
— John Smedley (@j_smedley) July 8, 2015
Smedley is not alone in his anger at the verdict. Other victims of the cybercriminal, as reported by dailydot, are also “disgusted” by the lenient sentence against the hacker. The IT specialist Blair Strater and his family were “swatted.” This harmless word refers to a particularly nasty practice that results in armed individuals storming the victims’ homes under adrenaline rush.
Furthermore, Strater and his family suffered from identity theft. The hackers made their lives hell financially and personally. Strater has reportedly lost faith in the justice system due to the lenient sentence.
