RSSBlaster Author Sentenced to 18 Months
By Ed Oswald | Published January 28, 2005, 3:23 PM
A Minnesota man received a sentence of 18 months in prison and 10 hours of community service for releasing a variant of the "Blaster" worm that infected nearly 50,000 computers in the summer of 2003.
Jeffrey Lee Parson was a 19 year-old high school senior using the computer alias "teekid" when he modified the worm. Parson originally pled not guilty, but changed his plea last summer in hopes of avoiding a longer sentence.
U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman said the sentence reflected that although he was 18 at the time of the attack, his maturity level was much younger than that. She also said his home life contributed to the problem.
"Many of the mental-health problems from the household you grew up in contributed to this problem. (The Internet) has created a dark hole, a dungeon if you will, for people who have mental illnesses or people who are lonely. I didn't see any parent standing there saying, 'It's not a healthy thing to lock yourself in a room and create your own reality," Pechman said.
Parson will serve his sentence in a low-security prison.
18 months in prison is severe. Don't forget, he's got a record for life that will make it difficult for him to find meaningful and gainful employment anywhere. Employers these days don't like to hire former criminals.
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|Well He will have a Career... Some company someware will Hire him for IT Secerity.
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|18 months is nothing next to the guy who got 49 years for releasing the "main" blaster variants. Look at it this way--these jerks took BILLIONS of dollars from some corps. with their viruses, and this can't be taken lightly.
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|Other sites are reporting 18 months in prison and 10 *MONTHS* of community service (not hours).
Not sure which is correct, not that it really matters (except to him *wink*) but noting the discrepancy.
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|Yes, the kid did bad. Yes, the kid should get punished. 18 months is a long time, but not that long. If the kid is smart, he will get some schooling, workout a bit, get in a fight or two and come out all the better.
As far as should he have written the virus. In reality, I should say no. But I am glad he did. Blaster and Slammer opened the eyes of the people outside of IT. I am a network engineer, and many in my field thought they were invincible and completely protected by the feeble protections they had in place.
Blaster and Slammer presented the world with a 'bug' that infected machines with zero interaction. Yes, other worms, viruses, and trojans placed files on other machines, but to be effective, the machine had to execute the code (by triggering the file at startup or by user interation).
These two infections opened the eyes, minds, and wallets for IT expansion. This is what Y2K was supposed to be like. (Windows Admins running around screaming that the world was ending while the Linux gurus shrugged and called us n00bs.)
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|18 Months, Not that long? Are you nuts, I would like to see you in Jail for even a year. You would cry your eyes out. Noone should get that long. And 49 Years for the original Blaster, that is outrageous. Whatever happed to not getting excessive fines or punishment for CRIMES.
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|Living a mere few miles from this kid. I can relate a little better. Should he have written the virus? No. I do, however, think 18 months is a little extreme. In my opinion, at least. Maybe like 3 months, no computers for a year. If he had written the virus, I might think differently. But all he did was modify it.
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|That is the biggest load of crap i have ever heard. This guy gets off with 18mo and 10hrs of community service because his mommy didnt have the guts to keep the nerd off the computer 18hrs a day? that's nuts.
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|Agreed... We (The States)really gotta make a point that if you write/modify a virus which causes any sort infection small or big, yout pay for it... How much money and man hours have companies spent this last year on security and antivirus? Too much... 5 years minimum, computer isolation for at least 20, 500 community service hours min... yeah, that sounds about right.
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|That's a bit extreme. I do agree however, some seperation from computers was warranted.
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|This kid got off way too easy-- he did too much damage to way too many other folks... We must have severe deterrents in place to curtail those who wreak so much "widespread" havoc, and disrupt the daily routine of so many others-- that is, if we want a functioning society as opposed to a wild frontier.
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|5 years minimum? How about capital punishment? That would serve as a deterrent for all those careless kids we are able to catch, and insure Windows holes are only known to and used by professional thieves.
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|that sounds about right... in the US there are federal laws requiring a minimium of 5 years for any crime committed involving a handgun? why? because a handgun used in the commission of a crime, whether fired or not, constitutes deadly menace. How does this apply to this case? virus' can be deadly to computers... so the use of a virus can indeed be considered using deadly menace. I say the 5 years is a def great idea.
community service? I never was much for liking that. it is too much like forced slave labor. there are too many people in the US and the world in general , who are unemployed, underemployed or underpaid. giving away free employees just doesnt float in my book
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