A now 20-year old hacker in the UK is facing two years of jail time after being convicted of several crimes involving cyber attacks and the creation of a hacking tool that has caused several companies millions of dollars in damages. Adam Mudd, who developed the infamous Titanium Stresser hacking tool when he was 16, was sentenced by a UK court this week.
An ongoing online business
Mudd apparently ran an intricate online empire by selling his hacking program to different individuals and hacking groups on the internet. The young hacker reportedly even offered different payment plans and packages that interested "cybercriminals" could purchase using either cash or bitcoins.
Some customers could even earn money themselves through a refer-a-friend scheme for the hacking tool. Mudd reportedly earned more than $490,000 just by selling his hacking program online.
Millions in losses
According to reports, the hacking tool has been used in more than 1.7 million recorded attacks on companies such as Microsoft, TeamSpeak, and Xbox Live. Games such as RuneScape also fell victim to thousands of attacks, which resulted in the company spending over $7 million to defend its servers. The game also reportedly lost over $200,000 in revenue due to the constant DDoS attacks.
Facing the consequences
Mudd pleaded guilty to the charges that were placed against him, which included one count of making and supplying an article for use in an offense as stated in the Computer Misuse Act, one count of concealing the criminal property, and one count of committing unlawful acts with intent to impair.
The judge who presided over the hearing also stressed the importance of having a "real element" of punishment, which is why he refused to lessen Mudd's jail time.
Not about the money
Mudd lived at home with his parents and really didn't spend much of the money he earned from his online activities. The hacker did not live a lavish lifestyle, which indicates that the motivation for his actions may not have been financial.
Mudd was previously diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and has since escaped to the online world after leaving school due to constant bullying.
A terrorist behind the keyboard
Apart from his infamous software, Mudd also admitted to hacking into his college, where he was enrolled in a computer science course. The attack caused the school's network to crash, which resulted in thousands of dollars in damages. Mudd was also found to have carried out hundreds of DDoS attacks himself against hundreds of different IP addresses over the past few years.
