An unnamed Manchester 17-year old was recently arrested in a case concerned with a service attack that downed some Activision servers hosting Call of Duty sessions. The e-crime was reported back in September, and used a tool called a “Phenom Booster,” which stalls other user accounts to raise the user’s own score. The teenager was discovered via a traced IP address, and is currently in Manchester police custody until further legal action – likely to be in connection with the Computer Misuse Act – can be determined.
“Online gaming is a major retail sector with millions of titles being sold in the run-up to Christmas worldwide,” said Detective Inspector Paul Hoare. “Programs marketed in order to disrupt the online infrastructure not only affect individual players but have commercial and reputational consequences for the companies concerned.”
“These games attract both children and young people to the online environment and this type of crime can often be the precursor to further offending in more traditional areas of online crime.”