A 51-year-old British man is headed to prison after being found guilty of DDoS attacks that knocked more than 300 websites offline in 2013, according to the website We Live Security, run by security company ESET.
Ian Sullivan, from Merseyside, received an eight-month sentence for his attacks on the websites of British Airways, the Conservative Party, multinational banks, the Merseyside Police, as well as adoption, children's social services and social housing organizations.
Sullivan was nabbed in July 2013 after he broadcast his actions on Twitter to alert targeted sites. Police linked him to his Twitter handle (@anonian01).
Forensic investigation of his seized computer equipment revealed the software RageBooter, a so-called stressing tool that enables users to carry out DDoS attacks. There also was evidence of links to other online campaigns, as well as hints of an association with the hacking collective Anonymous. The Register pointed out that Sullivan's targets were not typical of Anonymous, rather his actions seemed more of a personal vendetta than ideological activism.
