Julius Kivimaki, Finnish teen, convicted for 50,700 cyber attacks
Hacker took credit for downing Xbox Live and PlayStation Network last year
A Finnish teenager has been found guilty of a massive hacking spree that went after emails, websites and credit card data around the world, including at Harvard and MIT.
Julius Kivimaki, 17, was convicted of involvement in 50,700 cyber attacks by a court in Espoo, Finland, near Helsinki, earlier this week, according to Finnish and other media.
He was handed a two-year suspended prison sentence, meaning that he will not spend any time in jail. The court deemed his offences to have been committed as a juvenile, reports said.
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Kivimaki was also ordered to pay back $9,225 in criminal proceeds and to hand over his computer.
The cyber attacks all happened between late 2012 and September 2013, and involved everything from phishing (email hacking) to shutting down websites and so-called swatting, where fake emergency calls are placed to law enforcement so that SWAT teams get deployed.
The targets included U.S. universities MIT and Harvard, gaming platforms Xbox Live and Playstation Network, and individuals.