Arizona Man Sentenced For Denial Of Service Attacks On Emergency Communications System

911

An Arizona man was sentenced yesterday in Phoenix, for directing distributed denial of service attacks at the computer networks of the City of Madison, Wis.

Randall Charles Tucker, aka “Bitcoin Baron,” 23, of Apache Junction, Ariz., was sentenced to serve 20 months in prison. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of over $ 69,300 to the victims of his computer attacks. Tucker had previously pleaded guilty to one count of intentional damage to a protected computer.

According to admissions made in connection with his plea, between March 9 and March 14, 2015, Tucker executed a series of DDoS attacks against various city websites, including Madison, Wis. A DDoS attack is a malicious attack where illegitimate network traffic is used to slow down or altogether crash a computer server, thereby denying service to legitimate users of the server. In addition to disabling the City of Madison’s website, the attack crippled the city’s Internet-connected emergency communication system, causing delays and outages in the ability of emergency responders to connect to the 911 center and degrading the system used to automatically dispatch the closest unit to a medical, fire, or other emergency. Tucker, referring to himself as the “Bitcoin Baron,” boasted about his attacks via social media.

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