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| Jeffrey Lee Parson pictured last year. |
As anticipated
by Sophos earlier today, Minnesota teenager Jeffrey Lee Parson
has pleaded guilty in a Seattle court to damaging computers used by
the US Government with a variant of the Blaster worm.
Parson, 19, who has previously pleaded not guilty, changed his
plea following months of legal bargaining aimed to reduce his
sentence. He is now expected to receive a sentence of between 18
months and 3 years in prison. Prior to the plea bargain he had
faced a possible maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000
fine.
Parson, who used the online handle "teekid" or "t33kid",
modified the original Blaster worm and created the W32/Blaster-B
variant.
A physically imposing figure, at 6-foot-4-inches tall and
weighing 320 pounds, Parson ran a website where viruses were made
available for download alongside lyrics for songs by Judas Priest,
Megadeth and Weird Al Yankovic. He has also admitted that he
launched attacks against the websites of the Motion Picture
Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of
America (RIAA).
"Parson's stupidity in writing and releasing a computer worm
looks likely to make his life a misery, and that of his loved ones
too," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.
"It's a tragedy for him and his family that things ever escalated
this far. All those thinking of spreading computer viruses should
think long and hard about the possible consequences."
During the course of Parson's trial he was placed under
electronic home monitoring, and banned from using the internet.
Sentencing is scheduled to take place on 2 November.
"It should be remembered that Jeffrey Lee Parson was not
responsible for the original Blaster worm,
which had a much larger impact on businesses and home users than
Parson's creation. The identity of the author of the original
Blaster worm is still a mystery, with substantial rewards
available for information leading to their conviction," continued
Cluley.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.