back to article 'I'm COMING for you, DIRTBAG!': Ex-Sony chief Smedley to Kid Lizard hacker

John Smedley, the former head of Sony Online Entertainment, has reacted to a Lizard Squad hacker's lenient sentence with utter fury, and has suggested he may take legal action to bring him back to court. 17-year-old Julius "zeekill" Kivimaki received a two-year suspended prison sentence and will have his internet activity …

  1. Santa from Exeter

    TL;DR

    Rich twat is rich twat threatening parents of minor

    1. Twilight Turtle

      Re: TL;DR

      Quite.

      Pathetic bawling oaf; the notion that his ittle bittle wittle fweelings are somehow of more value than the judgements of a legal system that, let's be honest, does about the best job of rehabilitating and reintegrating criminals back into society of basically any in the world is truly fucking laughable.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: TL;DR

        "Pathetic bawling oaf; the notion that his ittle bittle wittle fweelings"

        I imagine you'd have "ittle bittie fweelings" too if you'd been the victim of a hoax bomb threat on a plane thanks to this little turd. But then in your case you could probably turn to your mummy sitting next to you and ask for a hug.

        "let's be honest, does about the best job of rehabilitating and reintegrating criminals back into society of basically any in the world is truly fucking laughable."

        Not quite as laughable as that comment, but hey, every laugh is free on here :)

        Its easy to "integrate" people into society if you pretty much ignore any crimes they commit. Even Brevic will do little more than 20 years FFS. Thats not a progressive justice system, its a cowards justice system which pretty much sums up the scandinavian countries. They don't have the balls to hand down sentences that fit the crime because they're too worried about the human rights of the criminal and don't give a shit about those of the victim. Which is fairly typical in liberal justice systems frankly.

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

        2. Twilight Turtle
          FAIL

          Re: "a cowards justice system"

          Funny how proponents of retributive justice systems always resort to hyperbole and bluster when disputing the effectiveness of more liberal justice systems. I assume it's because they can't argue with the simple facts.

          1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
            Holmes

            Re: "a cowards justice system"

            Menacing tweets? I think there is a law against that. I suspect ambitious no-win, no-fee lawyers will be in touch.

            Imagine a Sony Entertainment employee doing that. He would be on the street in a heartbeat.

            I won't go into the fact that he comes across as a spoilt brat wearing Armani (indeed, most of management are anyway, so no surprises here).

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: "a cowards justice system"

            "I assume it's because they can't argue with the simple facts."

            Show us some "facts" then.

            1. Twilight Turtle

              Re: "a cowards justice system"

              https://www.salve.edu/sites/default/files/filesfield/documents/Incarceration_and_Recidivism.pdf

              http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/docs/central/2012/nr_121107_reducing_reoffending__supp_sccjr.pdf

              http://www.ssb.no/en/forskning/discussion-papers/_attachment/166596?_ts=14496f98d88

              http://euro-vista.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/EuroVista-vol2-no3-6-Kristofferson-edit.pdf

              I mean, it's not as if it's a subject that's been subject to extensive academic review...

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: "a cowards justice system"

                I'm not interested in obscure left wing academic papers, I want some actual statistics that show that lenient sentences reduce crime and reoffending after taking out other social and cultural factors.

                Like this for example:

                http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8504923/Longer-prison-sentences-deter-re-offending-study-shows.html

                1. Twilight Turtle

                  Re: "a cowards justice system"

                  So you're not interested in academic studies, contained in which are those very statistics you apparently want, but are quite happy to post a newspaper article that doesn't actually demonstrate that harsher prison sentences reduce re-offending generally, but only that they do in the case of one particular judicial system (IE, that of the UK).

                  Interesting to note that the reason given by Justice Secretary for the better performance of longer-serving criminals is their own failure to institute working rehabilitation programmes for short-term prisoners.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: TL;DR

      Popcorn time. The Finnish police is just as likely to kick him out of the car somewhere in the forest, give him a good beating and leave him there to be eaten alive by mosquito's the size of small helicopters.

  2. iLuddite
    Meh

    likely being unfair

    Whenever I see the name SONY, I remember rootkit, Sysinternals, and 'what problem? No one knows what a rootkit is anyways'.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: likely being unfair

      Indeed. Sony were the company who thought it was fine to install backdoors on your PC that were easy to find and exploit.

      We should sue their parents too.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: likely being unfair

        "Sony were the company who thought it was fine to install backdoors on your PC that were easy to find and exploit."

        Indeed. And nobody was sent to prison or had their parents held accountable for that. Now why is that?

        Hypocrisy!

      2. dogged

        Re: likely being unfair

        > Indeed. Sony were the company who thought it was fine to install backdoors on your PC that were easy to find and exploit.

        Yeah, but Sony Online Entertainment (ie, John Smedley) didn't do that because they were busy running EverCrack. In fact, I believe they were bought long after the rootkit thing happened, meaning that business unit literally cannot be blamed for such things.

        Was this the kid who SWATted loads of people?

        If so, I'd say he deserves everything he gets.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: likely being unfair

          Well, according to their justice system, he's already got everything he deserves.

      3. Warm Braw

        Re: likely being unfair

        >We should sue their parents too.

        Identifying the father may prove tricky, at least according to what I've heard people say...

  3. tkioz
    Facepalm

    Taste the salt

    Wow, those tweets are saltier than the dead sea. How did this fool get to be CEO of a major company?

    Seriously, a little professionalism please Smedley (am I the only one reading that as Smeghead? Maybe I've been watching too much Red Dwarf? Is there such a thing?)

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Holmes

      Re: Taste the salt

      > CEO of a major company

      > professionalism

      Choose one.

      These people are not in their position because they are "professional". They are there because they are ruthlessly ambitious. No skills required.

  4. Amorous Cowherder
    Pint

    As someone else said SONY's name is a little bit grubby so sympathy from me is thin on the ground. On the one hand I think this little shit should at least be given some sort of punishment but then the CEO is the CEO of SONY ( remember the rootkits, the DRM, the removal of Linux, etc ) and think bollocks.

    I love using SONY mirrorless cameras though but the rest of the corp can go "ruck" themselves for all I care!

    1. dogged

      > the CEO is the CEO of SONY ( remember the rootkits, the DRM, the removal of Linux, etc ) and think bollocks.

      No, of Sony Online Entertainment. Not SONY.

      1. Grikath

        "No, of Sony Online Entertainment. Not SONY."

        You eat from the trough, you get tarred with the same brush.

        1. dogged

          > You eat from the trough, you get tarred with the same brush.

          By the stupid.

          That's like blaming NTrig (recently acquired by Microsoft) for Windows ME.

          1. Grikath

            @ dogged

            Actually, given that SOE's history as a Sony subcompany goes back to 1995, has run uninterrupted up to february this year, and has been intimately tied to Sony's core gaming business ( to the point of the 2011 no-we-used-separate-servers, really, honest SNAFU..) I don't think your comparison to a recent corporate acquirement quite holds up there.

            But hey...

            1. This post has been deleted by its author

            2. dogged

              Re: @ dogged

              You're right, I got that bit wrong.

              But John Smedley co-founded Verant Interactive which was bought by Sony in 2000 (not 1995, so you're wrong too) and has been CEO ever since. [citation provided].

              This makes him somewhat unlikely to have been involved in any rootkit scandals as those were entirely the responsibility of Sony BMG [citation provided], an entirely different company albeit one now folded into Sony Corporation (which, btw, Sony Online Entertainment never was).

              So it's still stupid to go "baaaah, Sony, rootkits, linux on PS3s" on the guy who runs MMOs for a living.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Pretty typical, most of the Scandinavian nations focus on rehabilitation as opposed to revenge, what exactly would be gained from locking up a teenager for 20 years when said teenager can likely easily be set down the right path and made a good member of his society?

    Also lets be honest, the reason most of these hacks work is because companies don't take their responsibility to security seriously. Most breaches are caused by unpatched estates.

    1. Naselus

      "Also lets be honest, the reason most of these hacks work is because companies don't take their responsibility to security seriously. Most breaches are caused by unpatched estates."

      Quite. Lizard squad didn't really do anything Lulzsec hadn't already done in 2011, and were clearly considerably less technically literate than genuinely dangerous hackers like Sabu, Tflow or Kayla.

      It's pretty sad that anyone was still insecure enough to even notice them ,tbh. Basically, if someone was worried about Lizard Squad, then they either didn't understand the technical details of the attacks, or knew that their security infrastructure was criminally negligent.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "what exactly would be gained from locking up a teenager for 20 years"

      Well it wouldn't be 20 years would it, it would have been 2 years. And what kind of example does it set to other hackers? Hacked 50K systems? Don't worry, we'll let you off for "rehabiltation" , AKA spending a few hours a week with some clueless wet social worker. Yeah, great deterrent there.

      For a society to function properly, punishment for crimes needs to be seen to be done. I realise this doesn't particularly dovetail with the naive liberal left everyone-is-a-good-person-really view of the world but then you people became detached from reality a looong time ago.

      Sure , rehabiltate as much as you want, AFTER you punish.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        So what's the crime rate where you live in comparison to Finland?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          "So what's the crime rate where you live in comparison to Finland?"

          Since you ask, finnish crime rate is 150 crimes per 1000 population per year. In the UK (where I live) its around 110.

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Finland

          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_Kingdom

          Care to comment?

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            From that wiki page...

            By contrast, official police crime statistics in the United Kingdom are unreliable, due to widespread and inconsistent practices of "no criming"

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: From that wiki page...

              "By contrast, official police crime statistics in the United Kingdom are unreliable, due to widespread and inconsistent practices of "no criming""

              Ah ok. So after having your bluff called you're going with the "i don't like the incovenient data so I'll claim its unreliable" argument are you? Is that really the best you've got? Pathetic.

      2. Triggerfish

        You do realise having liberal views doesn't neccessarily mean you are a complete hippy who beleives in non violence don't you? I mean it does also allow for people to have enough sense that sometimes, whilst punishment is needed, going completly over the top and rabidly punishing people and basically screaming aaaargh over the internet is not neccessarily the done or best thing.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Finnish police took a long time to catch up

    Because arrest requires better evidence than extraordinary rendition?

    1. JaitcH
      Meh

      Re: Finnish police took a long time to catch up

      The FBI is notorious for fabricating cases - for budget increases - whilst some police forces actually investigate cases.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Grow up and move on Mr Smedley - no grannies were mugged, no Jimmy savile involved and nobody drowned. You are behaving like a 12 year old who's had their steam account hacked and now making threats which in themselves could be regarded as criminal threatening behaviour. How on earth did you become a CEO with such a low level of maturity ?

  8. David Austin

    To be fair...

    This guy phoned a bomb threat in on a plane he was in which got grounded, and could have easially spiralled out of control if the SWAT teams didn't keep such cool heads, especially as he specifically said the bomb was in Smedley's bag.

    He also went after the personal details of and threatened his family, an area where we are all a little over-protective.

    I think his anger, while perhaps misjudged, is understandable - it's a human reaction, rather than canned corporate speak. Kinda refreshing to see.

  9. spot

    Fish fingers

    I thought googling Smedley would get me fish fingers, or peas, or something. Knitwear? What?

    I'm delighted "the former head of Sony Online Entertainment" is having a bad day. Dreadful oik.

    And his damned staff, if it comes to that.

    Bloody Americans.

  10. heyrick Silver badge

    Dear Mr Smedley

    I get it, the guy is a dumbass (other words are available) and you think the sentencing should have been harsher.

    Does this justify an immature angry foot stamping that is not in the slightest bit befitting a man of your stature?

  11. nsld

    I bet

    That Mr Smedley doesn't nickel and dime on security anymore.

    Its both ironic and perhaps justified that his own personal data, like that of his 200 million odd customers got taken and abused thanks to his woeful approach to security, ultimately as the CEO the buck stops with him.

    Of course I am not justifying the criminality of the kid in Finland but I do think Mr Smedley doth protest too much. I am probably not alone in thinking that Mr Smedley should do some prison time for his security failures and data losses.

  12. nuked
    Facepalm

    On the basis that I couldn't mindlessly slaughter zombies on my PS4 over the Christmas break, I say let the guy hang. Seems proportionate.

    As an aside, didn't I see somewhere that Sony's security contractors told the court that this had cost them over £100k?! So kid finds gaping hole; security company incurs costs fixing the hole that should already be fixed, and then uses this amount ("as damages") to try and seek a harsher punishment in court?! wtf.

    1. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge
      Flame

      Let the guy hang

      heck I'd hang him by his ankles in a vat of acid.

      Have you lot ever tried dealing with a pair of hyperactive nephews who want to go zombie bashing/car racing on their brand new console and some shit has ddos sony's network?

      Flames... because he deserves a go in those too

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Am I a bad person?

    Is it just me, or someone else too is giggling about the bomb threat that grounded Smedley's plane?

    1. David Austin

      Re: Am I a bad person?

      On a first quick thought, yeah, maybe you can see the funny side.

      But when you stop and think of the dozen and one ways something could have gone horribly, horribly wrong, the laughter soon dies: SWAT member with a twitchy trigger finger, US Air Marshall not let in on the plan, a passenger with a guilty conscious thinking they're after them, critical medical package held on the ground...

      Jerks like this are one step on the rung above swatters, who are mindless idiots who will eventually get someone killed "For The Lullz"

      http://www.networkworld.com/article/2350703/security/fbi-warns-emergency-911-swatters-are-a-growing-menace.html

      1. Alan Brown Silver badge

        Re: Am I a bad person?

        Swatters are a growing menace because US Police tend to go in guns blazing at the slightest opportunity instead of actually doing their job properly and scouting the situation.

        This is the same failing which gets people killed when someone phones in "guy acting weird on the street".

        Police/LEO worldwide generally care more about what's good for the police instead of actual rule of law (and they care more about rule of law than actual justice or keeping the peace), but the sheer incompetence and blatant abuse of power seen in many american states puts them into "dangerously unpredictable paramilitary gang" territory.

    2. oneeye

      Re: Am I a bad person?

      That you would even think a bomb threat is funny,only shows what's so wrong with society these days. And on another post,you get 18 upvotes for blaming the victims of being hacked and or ddos'ed on Christmas. Perhaps you are the mistery father of this degenerate. But you are in good company,sad to say.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Am I a bad person?

        "That you would even think a bomb threat is funny,only shows what's so wrong with society these days"

        Seconded. Though I think it tends to be concentrated on online forums because of a slightly younger and hence less mature demographic.

  14. Captain DaFt

    Perversely, my sides are splitting!

    Shades of Nominative determinism!

    His ranting reminds me of the other Smedely's obsessive behaviour toward Chilly Willy:

    http://www.cartoonscrapbook.com/C/chillywilly1953.htm

    (What can I say? I'm hooked on old cartoons.)

  15. g7rpo

    A medley is a

    bellend..... Nuff said

  16. Mark 85
    Thumb Down

    Ok.. they're both twatdangles...

    They both need a good butt-kicking and possibly tossed into a dark room for a bit. My view is no respect for either of them or their assorted parentage. To say that one is better than other one or deserves something harsher or lesser is ludicrous. I stand by my title above... they're both twatdangles, just at different levels in the social pecking order. A pox on both of them.

  17. JJKing

    The little lizard turd thinks swatting is a victimless crime. Maybe he could tell that to the parents of the baby that had a flash-bang thrown into it's cot by the SWAT team responding to a swatting call. The baby had serious injuries from this "victimless" crime. The airline should also sue the little shit. Cost money to divert an aircraft and look after the affected victims (aka passengers) who are massively inconvenienced by that dickead's victimless crime.

    Mind you, I do think Smedley is a complete raving idiot. Maybe both should be put in the same cell.

  18. Domquark

    Victimless Crime?

    I am amazed by the amount of people who obviously believe that these where victimless crimes!

    I doubt you will be laughing when the effect of his hoax bomb threat has caused you to pay twice as much for that plane ticket to your holiday destination due to extra security.

    Or how about the SWAT team being elsewhere when it's your family that needs them.

    As for the 50,000 systems he compromised, just because you can, it doesn't mean you should. He could have compromised a database containing your family members medical test results, meaning the early stage cancer (insert any other nasty illness here) won't get spotted in time.

    Yes, all very funny and victimless.........

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