Calin Mateias, 38, attacked the servers of “WoW” owner Blizzard
Entertainment between February and September 2010 after getting into
disputes with other European players. The plot orchestrated by Mateias
impacted World of Warcraft servers in the United States and across
Europe.
“Angered by a player he regularly competed against, the defendant
determined to defeat his ‘WoW’ opponents by interrupting the game’s
server so they could not access the game,” according to a defense
sentencing memorandum.
“World of Warcraft” is an online virtual world where players participate
in a game using avatars. Using his in-game avatar, Mateias often
participated in collaborative events such as “raids” where players join
forces to meet game objectives and are rewarded with virtual proceeds or
in-game advantages.
The Bucharest-born Mateias became involved in disputes with other
players for a variety of reasons, including the division of loot and
membership in raid teams, according to Justice Department spokesman Thom
Mrozek.Mateias, who has been in custody since Nov. 20, was “motivated
by a juvenile desire to win the game, and for others to lose it,” the
memorandum said.
The attack, called a distributed denial-of-service or DDoS, flooded
‘World of Warcraft’s’ servers in Irvine, California, with fake requests
from multiple sources. The deluge of traffic overwhelmed the servers and
collapsed the system for paying customers.Mateias paid $30,000 in
restitution to Blizzard Entertainment last month to compensate the
company for labor costs associated with countering the computer attacks,
according to court documents.
DDoS attacks have been used by cybercriminals targeting banks,
corporations and news websites. The cost to repel the cyberattacks
presents major challenges to many organizations.
Mateias, who was extradited to the United States to face federal
charges, pleaded guilty in downtown Los Angeles in February to a single
felony count of causing intentional damage to a protected computer.
