Posted on 06/16/2004 12:36:11 PM PDT by FourPeas
The informant who tipped Microsoft Corp. to the identity of the "Sasser" computer worm's creator last month is among five people under investigation as possible accomplices, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The worm's 18-year-old creator, Sven Jaschan, was arrested at his home in northern Germany May 7 following the tip to Microsoft from an informant seeking a reward. Jaschan, whose worm raced around the world exploiting a flaw in the company's Windows operating system, is free pending charges.
The week after the arrest, police questioned five people, some of whom said Jaschan had given them the source code for the "Netsky" virus, which he also created.
"The person who gave the tip is among the other five suspects," said Helmut Trentmann, a spokesman for prosecutors in the northern town of Verden. He added that 50 damages claims have been received so far, but gave no details.
Trentmann would not give details on the informant, but the weekly magazine Stern reported that he and Jaschan still go to the same school.
"What am I supposed to do? I'm certainly not going to beat him up," it quoted Jaschan as saying. The teenager said that his aim was to be better than other virus programmers, but not to cause damage.
"I'm afraid that my life is in the trash can -- how am I supposed to pay everything if a lot of claims come?" Jaschan, who hopes to get an apprenticeship in the computer industry, told Stern. "All I can do is apologize to everyone."
Jaschan is being investigated on suspicion of computer sabotage, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
In the past hackers who wrote something "interesting" were rewarded with offers of jobs/college to harness their ability and creativity. Hopefully it's becoming more common, and commonly known, that such actions are now punished not rewarded.
I'd say about fifty of them, with a Louisville Slugger.
I'd cut his hands off and he could write his next virus with a pencil between his teeth,
P.S. I would like to do this to spammers too.
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