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| Sven Jaschan was arrested following a
tip-off to Microsoft |
The German teenager suspected of writing the Sasser and Netsky
computer worms was charged yesterday by authorities in Germany.
Sven Jaschan, an 18-year-old computer enthusiast, was arrested
in May at the house he shares with his parents in the village of
Waffensen, North Germany. He has now been charged by prosectors of
computer sabotage amounting to a total of $157,000. However,
because many businesses did not report the damage done by the worms
to their computer systems, prosecutors believe the real figure is
in the millions.
"The Netsky and Sasser worms accounted for over 70% of all virus
infections in the first half of 2004 - they were tremendously
successful at spreading and a significant and costly nuisance for
many companies and home computers worldwide," said Graham Cluley,
senior technology consultant for Sophos. "However, it seems the
number of infection reports to the police are just the tip of the
iceberg. These were, without doubt, two of the biggest computer
virus outbreaks of all time."
Prosecutors said they have been contacted by 143 plaintiffs. In
their indictment, prosecutors chose the cases of three German city
governments and a public broadcaster whose systems were said to
have been disrupted.
Prosecutors are said to be continuing to investigate several of
Jaschan's school friends as suspected accomplices, although
none of them have been charged to date.
In the past virus writers such as David L Smith, Simon Vallor and
Christopher Pile have been sentenced to jail for damage caused by
their malicious code. In Germany the charge of computer sabotage
carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, however it is
unclear presently whether Jaschan will be tried in an adult court
as his viruses were released shortly before he turned 18.
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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