A teenager who carried out more than 40 cyber attacks on an online gaming site has been ordered to do unpaid work in the community.

Computer equipment belonging to 18-year-old Scott Robertson was seized after North American gaming company 'Eternal Gaming' complained about a number of Denial of Service attacks on their service through an IP address traced to the teenager's home in Worlingham.

Charles Myatt, prosecuting at Ipswich Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday, May 24), explained that this type of attack involved bombarding a specific target computer with so much information that it became overwhelmed and couldn't function for the duration of the attack.

Robertson, of Sycamore Close, Worlingham, near Beccles, admitted doing an unauthorised act with intent to impair computer operation in November 2014.

He was given a 12 month community order during which he will have to do 120 hours unpaid work in the community. He was also ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge.

Sentencing him, Judge John Devaux said Robertson's motivation in committing the offence was to increase his persona in the online gaming community by causing disruption and to gain a gaming advantage.

He said Robertson carried out 42 attacks and although he hadn't acted alone, no-one else had been prosecuted.

The offence was committed 18 months ago and he hadn't committed any other offences since then.

No financial benefit had been obtained by Robertson and there hadn't been any financial loss to anyone as a result of the attacks, said the judge.

Matthew McNiff, for Robertson, said: 'The purpose of these attacks was to secure advantage when playing games.'

He said it was a form of cheating by freezing an online game.

He said his client hadn't been financially motivated and the attacks hadn't caused any serious damage or lasting effects.