18 Sep 2003
Blaster worm suspect pleads not guilty in Seattle court
Jeffrey Lee Parson, the 18-year-old youth suspected of creating
the W32/Blaster-B worm, has
pleaded not guilty to charges of causing damage to a computer.
Parson, from Hopkins, Minnesota, appeared in a Seattle court to
answer charges that he intentionally caused or attempted to cause
damage to a computer. According to media reports, if he is found
guilty he could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000
fine.
Law enforcement officials claim that Parson admitted creating a
variant of the worm when he was arrested. Parson is reported to
claim that he is being treated as a scapegoat as the author of the
original Blaster worm has not been discovered.
"It's interesting to hear that Parson intends to fight the
charges against him," said Graham Cluley, senior technology
consultant at Sophos Anti-Virus. "In the past virus writers such as
David L Smith,
Simon Vallor and
Christopher Pile have pleaded guilty. This could become a real test
case for the authorities to see if they can produce convincing
evidence in court that will prove a computer crime has been
committed."
Parson will next appear in court on 17 November. He has been
banned from using the internet, surfing the web or using online
chat systems during the course of his trial.
About Sophos
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
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