CLEVELAND (AP) - An Ohio man has been sentenced to six years in federal prison for cyberattacks that disrupted websites of various government entities, including the city of Akron, the Ohio Department of Public Safety and a number of federal agencies.
The sentence handed down Thursday to 33-year-old James Robinson, of Akron, includes an order to pay $668,000 in restitution for costs that agencies incurred to protect themselves from future attacks. Robinson pleaded guilty to damaging protected computers in March.
Federal prosecutors say Robinson’s denial-of-service attacks overwhelmed websites with traffic, making them unavailable to users.
They say Robinson was tracked down through a Twitter post taking credit for shutting down Akron’s websites.
Defense attorney Brian Pierce says Robinson’s attacks were politically motivated but that he caused more damage than he’d intended.
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