Blaster Master fire storm
p2pnet.net News:- US District Judge Marsha Pechman in Seattle has sparked a fire-storm. And given the nature of the subject that ignited it, who knows where it’ll lead.
As we write this (7:20 am Pacific), we’ve had 135 comments on our Blaster author faces jail story. And they’re still coming.
It’s not the most we’ve ever had for a single report, but it’s getting close. For example, we had 101 comment posts for our story on Sasser e-worm creator Sven Jaschan, said to be responsible for some 70% of viruses that have attacked the Net in the last year.
Against that, 19-year-old Blaster Master Jeffrey Lee Parson from Hopkins, Minnesota, admitted downloading the original Blaster worm last August, bundling it with a ‘back-door’ program and setting it loose again when it bit into 48,000 computers.
Unfortunately for Parson, the damaged computers were largely corporate and government systems and now Parson – who’s presently under house arrest – could find himself in the nick for up to three years.
Parson, “is not a normal teenager,” an Associated Press report quotes Pechman as saying. “Mr. Parson isn’t going to be like other teenagers, who can take the family car, go to parties, go to the beach.
“That’s not the way it’s going to be.”
Here’s a random sampling of p2pnet comment posts:
The first said, what the f*ck is it with this country …. you know i just cant see giving this kid three years of jail time it doesnt compute.
And the last (at this point) said, Having gotten a taste of these folks handywork and having to reformat or spend hours figuring out what I was infected with, I say we definitely need to punish the perpetrators.
And in between:
people who sell drugs to little kids get off in less than 24 hours. and these estimated loss of millions of dollars are really inflated, your workers would prob be looking at porn anyway.
WTF are you talking about? In the great state of WA sale of pot alone will land you in jail for 5 years with a $10,000 fine. Sale to a minor doubles both penalties. He will probably only get 1 year probation where he has to wear a GPS locator and is banned from computers. I believe that fits perfectly. Perhaps it will teach him a valuable lesson: you never launch a virus from your own computer, that is what public libraries are for. #-)
Hey if there are precious dollars at risk then the maximum punishment is the norm, gotta look after their money 
. The children aren’t the future, need more cash not kids.
Throw the fat slob in jail for life!
The absolute worst thing about this is that most of you are acting like complete assholes. Calling him fat does nothing to correct the problem. Your displays of harsh discrimination and prejudice towards those who shadow themselves from society, as this man probably did, adds fuel to the fire and will only cause the massive amount of hatred for mainstream society to grow. Instead of feeding hate and waiting for degenerates to break the law so that we can waste money incarcerating them after we make fun of their physicality, we should instead we figure out a way to focus on preventing crimes before they happen. As for the drugs issue, I absolutely agree with one of anonymous cowards who posted earlier that if the demand for drugs go down so will the sales of drugs and the population of criminals. Again this all has to do with prevention. Gandhi once said “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
Get real, compu-kiddies…have you any idea what writing code of this type actually does? Do you think I have the time, money, and inclination to worry about my data being destroyed by someone like this? Are you actually, truly, seiously annoyed he’s getting pounished? Try this on…I think he should be fined triple, and given more jail time. This attitude of support for destruction “just because,” or simply because the flaws exist is nonsense. The security flaws were there for 9/11, when terrorists flew planes into NYC, killing thousands of American citizens. By your reasoning, the terrorists acted appropriately, because, hell, after all, the flaws were there. Blame the plane companies. You make me sick. The fact that you people are going to be paying my social security when I’m too old to work terrifies me more than you know. Get real. Get Real. Get Real.
I think part of his punishment should be getting him on treadmill. Definitely something aerobic.
This is not a violent crime, and does not justify *time in the slammer*. A good way to treat this sort of crime is through community service and probation. Perhaps removal of computer access for long period of time. I do not want to -pay- for him sitting in a cell nor does many other people out there. +An act like this hurts everyone and may turn the criminal into a victim.
When there are so many people from both sides of the fence saying 3 years punishment is just or otherwise; shows a clear discrepency of how people view what a common “white collar” crimes is in our westernized world. +An act like this shows the world that the world does not seek consistancy.
His self-motivated actions may have cost companies money, and may have cost computer users time. But to put this blame all on him: that is -wrong-. Microsoft and other companies asking for the customer to blindy trust the security of it’s products, need to be shown by the people (in a civil manner) that thier actions lead to stupid mistakes on a daily basis. +An act like this points all fingers in one direction.
This man has drawn a complicated picture, and the people are unknowingly about to -frame- it.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:25 pm
Making others work extra hours to fix what he has broken is not fair.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:29 pm
He has committed a crime. To put him in jail punishes him for his crime and sends a “message” to those who would contemplate following in his footsteps. To let him “walk” sends another message. I say, “Lock him up”. 3 years seems appropriate as does a large fine.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:30 pm
Not a violent crime??? Blaster took down 911 systems among other things – police, fire, emergency services. People who needed help couldn’t get it, just so this kid and others like him could have “fun” and feel good about themselves. Jail time is most appropriate for this kid’s crime.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:31 pm
I’m sick of children and think that a heavy fine together with a year of prep time should be the case before anyone has a child.
This is the consequences of parents having bored offspring, they should send this fat kid to an exercise boot camp and then to Iraq for 4 years.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:34 pm
Damaging my computer is the same as damaging my car or my house or any thing that I have paid money for. If he took a bat to your new car you would want justice, why not damaging my computer (which right now is worth more than my car!)
August 13th, 2004 at 4:37 pm
Who cares what the guy looks like. Obviously taking away computer access would be a major blow to someone who’s life apparently revolves around computers. The bigger problem I’ve seen so far is that most of your respondants can’t spell!
August 13th, 2004 at 4:39 pm
“He did da crime – now he do da time…”
August 13th, 2004 at 4:39 pm
I personally don’t think he should get jail time, what he did was undoubtably wrong but placing him in jail is unjust, there are many people who commit violent crimes and other crimes like identity theft that hurt individuals and never do jail time, in fact the only reason he’s in real trouble is becouse he damaged some corporate computers and we all know we cant mess with our corporate owners and get away with a slap on the wrist.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:39 pm
Came on this site via CNN link. This kid and all like him writing viruses should be severely punished. I’d have him out making gravel from bolders for 20 years.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:41 pm
It’s high time that criminal behavior such as this receives the proper penalty. Historically we smile, slap their wrist, and the matter ends. Unfortunately, this only encourages others to try
and top the damage. Put the punks in jail for a long time, and make their parents financially responsible for all damages.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:42 pm
its self centered ignorant morons like you writing these viruses. I’d send you up for 3 years just for defending this kid
August 13th, 2004 at 4:44 pm
Putting the blame soley on him is the easy way out and you all have been blinded by the hype. The fact is Microsoft is known for extremly buggy software with tons of security holes. If you actually knew wtf you were doing on a computer you would probably be running Linux or BSD, but most of you are retards and can only point and click your way on to the internet. Most hard core users that truly understand computers feel that training should be required before letting you morons on the internet where you could potentially harm us!
August 13th, 2004 at 4:45 pm
now there is a unique idea in this day and time. Taking responsibility for actions. Wow. I’d love to see the Judge take his parents for everything they have as a down payment (.000001% of total damages) to set an example.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:48 pm
what benefit does putting this young man in jail render to anyone? satisfy some base desire for retribution?
as far as i know, no-one was injured by the reworked blaster worm, it was just an annoyance and maybe cost somepeople the 5 minutes it took to download the latest antivirus and removal utilites and slowed down corporate intranets a bit. is this worth basically ruining this man’s life over an inconvenience?
anyone, especially a corporate user, who runs a computer without an active firewall, up to date OS, and antivirus software is living in some fantasy world and really shouldnt be using a computer, much less coordinating a corporate network.
i mean seriously, to equate an annoying computer virus with terrorist attack? that is simply a rhetorical leap that i cannot fathom.
i’ve admitedly only been using computers for the last 10 years, but i have never experianced a virus because i exersize basic common sense, dont open unknown attachments, turn on you OS’s BUILT IN firewalll, run antivirus software, and if at all possible, run a more secure os, but hopefully SP2 will help windows move away from its reputation as the unlocked car in a bad neighborhood.
community service would be the perfect way for this young man to make restitution for his crimes, and would do everyone a lot more good than jail time, perhaps he could even teach computer skills classes to older adults or security classes for the masses of completely ignorant computer users out there, who are probably the real one’s who shouldnt be allowed to use a computer!
he didnt even write the original virus! can you understand how rediculous this is, he just modified an existing virus to allow him access to the infected computers.
no-one was harmed, no lives destoryed, and no money stolen, lets try to keep things in perspective and not let the 30 bucks you spent on norton antivirus a couple years ago prompt you into a fit of inexplicable rage.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:48 pm
lets be real, there is no way this kids parents could ever repay the overly inflated millions of dollars in damage there kid caused. and historically speaking throwing people in jail doesnt end criminal behavior, if it did we would have no crimes being commited by now.
The real crime is this kid being used as an example as if him going to jail is going to prevent someother genius know it all from commiting a similiar crime, whens the last time you met someone under 25 who didnt think the were invincable.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:48 pm
Okay, so we have a case of misguided teenage angst. Someone reads slashdot too much, finds a community with the script kiddies and writes a damaging worm.
Kinda like the terrorists. Only not really. There are no human lives involved. Yes, loss of data and productivity. These are the real costs – but I’d liken it more to someone placing a dead fish in the heating ducts at the local mall.
The guy needs to be shown the damage he did was to people not related to the target(s) of his vitriol, that it was to the overworked lady down the street with the two kids that doesn’t have time to run Windows Update and can’t afford a subscription to Norton Antivirus. I say community service, patching systems for shutins.
Then give him some work in the open source community. Let him topple the “evil empire” in a constructive way – by building a better alternative.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:49 pm
A crime is a crime., he has to do time. PERIOD!!!
August 13th, 2004 at 4:50 pm
It’s actually self centered, ignorant morons like you whose computer systems are compromised by kids like this. Quit whining about your infected systems and educate yourself on how to defend yourself.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:50 pm
AMEN! Most of the people wanting him in jail probably should not own a computer anyway! When granny gets her computer and doesn’t want to pay for training then she is a risk to the rest of the world, we should have HER put in jail!
August 13th, 2004 at 4:51 pm
this is not the original blaster worm, just a modified variant, it states clearly in the article that it only affected approximately 48000 computers, mainly in corporate networks, this is not the worm that slowed down 911 systems
August 13th, 2004 at 4:51 pm
I realize this comment is late in the grand scheme of things, but there is another legal question here, that of intent. For criminal cases, intent matters, and we often ignore the intent when it comes to computer crimes. Do we actually believe that this kid intended to cause millions of dollars of damage, and moreover do we believe he intended to deny people emergency response systems? I doubt it. I suspect he just did it on impulse when he saw the opening. Children often steal things like road signs, which occassionally also leads to death, but are only rarely ever even prosecuted for manslaughter and are almost never convicted. So, in my opinion, three years of actual jail time doesn’t make sense and to even think about calling this a violent crime is ridiculous.
The other thing to consider is that these “small” hacks may be saving us from major catastrophes in the long run. Microsoft and other vendors get feedback from hackers that don’t really have any malicious intent–if they did the problems would be more directed and worse. Afterall, my personal data being corrupted is hardly a national emergency, and I really should have backed it up anyway. Moreover, it is illegal for anyone to try and crack software security code. How will we know the security works unless it is tested? Until we answer that I think it will be difficult to try and say that these teenage hackers deserve hard time.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:52 pm
I am a computer technician. I say go at it man. sure I have been nailed a time or two by a virus. But the revenue it creates for the company I run is amazing. We also own a wireless internet company and we tell people all the time, update your antivirus. they don’t, and we get to charge them for virus removal. A company should not be led into a false sense of security just because they have an ‘IT guy’. Make sure you ahve proper firewalls in place, make sure you have proper and updated antivirus.
He should be in trouble, however, as someone who has been and is involved in the criminal system. If he is a first timer it is likely he will get a slap on the wrist and probation. people that get nailed for drugs (use and selling), battery, assult, endagerment, laundering, etc… on a first offense normally get off with a stern warning and probation time.
Put this kid to work, I say make first timers work for the government for free instead of probation. You get nailed selling drugs, you ahve to work in a state hospital helping people that have drug baby’s. You get caught beating people, you work in a state run facility for battered women. You get caught doing a computer crime, you work in data entry or somewhere along those lines.
Just my two and a half cents.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:52 pm
If you got the blaster worm then you did NOT install the security update from microsoft. You should pay for your share of the damages.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:53 pm
what permantant or expensive damage did his worm do to your computer? think about that before you go making rash generalizations, and i’ll guarantee you no hardware was damaged. data hardly follows the rules of physical property, as those who have tried to legislate it are learning
August 13th, 2004 at 4:53 pm
WOW! The world is safe again. Blame criminal behavior on someone else. Following that line of thought; it is okay to drive drunk because alcohol is legal, or shoot someone because firearms are legal. As long as it is the fault of someone else, it will never stop. As to internet morons, it appears as if you are logged on.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:53 pm
I think the jail term should be longer. He has personally caused me hours of unnecessary work and grief. He is just some lame as wanna be hacker that can’t code shit and wanted fame, well he got it. Hopefully bubba will take care of that chubby ass. Real hackers don’t get caught. He is a joke.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:54 pm
WOW, someone’s got some anger issues, can you say R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N
August 13th, 2004 at 4:54 pm
To: B.M. et al
One of the few hopeful things in this world is the uniting of the masses through the use of the internet. Look what this power is doing in China, Burma, Iran and yes the U.S. Those too ignorant of the positive power of the internet are screwing up this opportunity for the world. Instead of abusing computers go abuse yourself and leave the rest of us alone.
Yours,
Pollyanna
August 13th, 2004 at 4:54 pm
care to explain why? a statement is nothing without the reasoning to back it up
August 13th, 2004 at 4:55 pm
the little sh*t should have his hands chopped off.
sharia law rules!
August 13th, 2004 at 4:56 pm
It’s obvious many of the postings that sympatise with the perp are unaware of the damage to the businesses that is caused by the behavior of people like Mr. Parson. Yet loss of revenue can lead to the closure of a business and loss of jobs, worst case scenario of course.
But as a previous posting said, get real. This is not a game, Mr. Parson acted with malicious crimanal intent. He knew what he was doing, the damage it could cause, and did it anyway. Would you be so forgiving if he had broken into your house or business and stolen your computer systems filled with data crutial to the business/personal life i.e. billing, checking information, your term paper, your thesis, etc… and run over it with a truck 5 times? Same thing really, criminal intent.
Guilty as charged. Jail time and fines are appropriate.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:56 pm
Holding Microsoft accountable for security holes in its product is more than reasonable. If you buy a car and it is defective or unsafe, who has to take responsibility? It must be the driver in your world.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:59 pm
If you park you car in a bad part of town and leave the doors open, chances are your car will get stolen. If it does, don’t whine about it.
August 13th, 2004 at 4:59 pm
well, in this case, the original virus was written by a different author, this guy merely modified it to give him access to the infected computers, and i dont think it destroyed anyone’s lives, like alchohol and firearms so routinely do, hyperbole is a common tool of the weak-minded to push their point of view on others… the sad thing is that it so often works, and then ending with a petty insult, sir, i salute you and your own personal wonderful example of humanity and decency
August 13th, 2004 at 5:01 pm
either back up your billing, checking information, your term paper, your thesis, etc or don’t use a computer. This isn’t rocket science, it’s the modern world. And if you update your anti-virus software, this wouldn’t be an issue at all.
(not to mention if you didn’t use Windows…)
August 13th, 2004 at 5:02 pm
Not true, but Microsoft should share the blame. If this kid goes to jail and Microsoft doesn’t get fined then it will just go on. They are already talking about security holes in XP SP2, Microsoft states that it is unaware of any holes. They are partially responsible and this kid is a scapegoat unless Microsoft is fined as well.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:02 pm
hardly, computers should come secure out of the box, auto-update already enabled, in other words, SP2 should’ve been part of XP originally, antivirus software should come shipped with the computer, firewall on, and then the user must only follow some BASIC security rules to have an enjoyable and virus-free internet experiance.
but since that isnt the case, at least not for a week or two more, she should call her damn grand-kids
August 13th, 2004 at 5:02 pm
Same old story, persons propagating Worms & Viruses have rights but not responsibilities. All should be charged with a Federal Crime & if convicted, punished by a mandatory minimum sentence in a federal prison where there is no parole.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:03 pm
How about costing my company and customers money?
What do-good moron bottom-feeders like you fail to recognise is the fact that there is no difference between stealing physical money and stealing company or customer resources and/or time which equates to money.
Put him against a wall and send a few rounds down the range – nah, just chop his head off with a sword.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:04 pm
Like previous people have posted, anyone infected with the virus was of there own fault since they were not up to date on their virus protection and operating system patches, and as a company shouldn’t it be their responsibility to have important data backed up and protected in the first place. The internet is known for being plagued with viruses, worms and trojans, and not taking the necassary steps to safeguard themselves from these harmful codes would be neglect on there part, and neglect is criminal not a a teenager that is to smart to keep himself out of trouble.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:05 pm
Bullshit.
He must go to jail and get ass de-wormed.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:05 pm
HIS ASS SHOULD BE SHUTTLED FROM SITE TO SITE TO FIX SYSTEMS INFECTED WITH ANY VIRUS. WITHOUT REST, WITHOUT COMPENSATION, WITHOUT HOPE OF PAROLE.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:05 pm
Agreed, I was making attempting to make the point that insecurity can be put on the shoulder of many people, ultimately it should be on the manufacturing side.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:06 pm
makes a hell of a lot more sense than jail time, have him use his skills to help people rather than hurt them, hell it might even be enjoyable and lead to a carreer for him, and would that be a bad thing? no, it would show a justice system that is looking more towards rehabilitation than punitive action.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:07 pm
This case is not about punishing the individual, its about setting a standard and letting hackers know that hacking is illegal and will be enforced.
This guy deserves the max jail time, nobody can recode a virus and send it out and then claim ignorance. This was a malicous attack on everyone and he intended on seeing how far he could get the virus to travel without regard of who or what it destroyed.
As an IT professional I certainly hope this guy, and others like him, get the max penalty.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:07 pm
how old did you say you were? oh yeah, thats right, 8
August 13th, 2004 at 5:08 pm
He should fix your infected system? wasn’t it your responsibility to keep it up to date in the first place?
August 13th, 2004 at 5:08 pm
I think he should be punished not by being made to stay inside but should be made to go OUTSIDE like on a chain gang for a solid year. That oughta give him time to reflect on the damage he’s done and build a little muscle to boot. It’s correction this boy needs but I don’t think he’ll get it being confined to his house. That’s what got him in trouble in the first place staying in his room with his GD 7 computers. It’s obvious that he’s had too much time on his hands. Put him to work and I don’t mean sittin on his butt.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:08 pm
Anyone with halfway intelegent can avoid getting these viruses.
The people who write them are still to blame but all of you that got infected are to blame as well, I wont leave out Microsoft from this either, but lets not put all of the reponsibility on this kid.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:09 pm
What? common sense? amen!
August 13th, 2004 at 5:12 pm
people seem to be getting so worked up because of the word “virus”, you must keep in mind, that today’s viruses arent the hard-drive eating worms of yesteryear, they’re basically just self reproducing code, and in this case, it gave access to the infected machine, didnt delete stuff, didnt burn your data, destroy your operating system, or anything like that, simply took up bandwidth and allowed the author access to these corporate systems, big deal, how many people were killed? how many injured? hell… how many people even lost a family photo?!
the only “losses” here, are lost bandwidth and the pay for the tech guys to install all the windows updates and update the antivirus software and run removal tools, all of which except the last one, they SHOULD’VE ALREADY BEEN DOING!
August 13th, 2004 at 5:13 pm
IT professional? Running Windows systems?
Sounds like an oxymoron.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:13 pm
ROFL
August 13th, 2004 at 5:13 pm
ok so to you it makes more sense to throw him in a hole with cable, a bed, food and recreation where in the end it will cost more to punish this child than the actuall damage he caused, which is grossly inflated by corporate companies so they can have an excuss as to why they are cutting your benifites, raising your contributions and not giving you a decent raise or bonus.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:13 pm
having him provide tech support does make a lot more sense than jail time, they could have him do some sort of support services for governement offices as community service
August 13th, 2004 at 5:15 pm
What this kid was no different than if he went down main street breaking windows. Breaking windows isn’t a violent crime. No one person was singled out for this vandalism. That is what this is really all about. destruction of private property, (doesn’t matter who it belongs to), for the ‘fun of it’. This truely points at the moral decay filtering through our society. Not only should he be punished (at least severly enough to encourage some more moral rectitude on his part, either through reform or fear), but they should possibly go after the parents for not keeping a better eye on their kid, and if you don’t want to attribute some blame to the parents, they my question to you is: who the holy hell raised the little theiving bastard?
August 13th, 2004 at 5:16 pm
If there were no crooks there would be no need for locks.
Pollyanna
August 13th, 2004 at 5:16 pm
I CIO in a relatively small company that works hard to manufacture products made by Americans in America. Unfortunately, Worms, Trojans and viruses have, over the years, wiped out unreplaceable engineering data, accounting records and other data, as well as costing our staff thousands of hours. Today, we spend relatively huge sums in an attempt to keep this information as safe as possible, but of course hackers and virus writers continue to find new ways to disrupt our lives, which in the end, cost the people who work in our plants, obviously not rich people, needed raises. It is a huge problem, and these people have kids too. Virus writers are doing a lot more damage than most people realize.
Frankly I think it is time that we make examples out of whoever writes a virus. If a kid is smart enough to write one, he or she should also be smart enough to know that they will get a maximum sentence.
In the end, they rob businesses of millions of dollars, and I personally think the time they surve should reflect this.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:16 pm
AMEN!
August 13th, 2004 at 5:17 pm
I am a Linux user. I am not sure what this whole blaster thing is all about. Can you all please explain.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:17 pm
As an IT Professional: Any Windows based systems on my network are secured, updated and run anti-virus. It was not possible for this virus to cost us money because I did my job. If you want him in jail so badly maybe you should stop for a moment and consider this: IF YOU HAD KEPT YOUR SHIT UP TO DATE IT WOULDN’T BE AN ISSUE!
August 13th, 2004 at 5:18 pm
What does “pounished” mean? If you maintain your system’s security virii won’t be much of a threat. Even with a crappy insecure OS like windblows you can be
secure, sort of, if you work hard enough. I have NEVER been effected by any virus and my computer is online 24/7. I do have to reboot my linux box once or twice a year so it does require SOME maintenance. We do install security patches on the firewall occasionally. Anyway if you run a real os (i.e. *nix) instead of a funny little joke one (i.e. any M$ product) you won’t have nearly as many problems.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:19 pm
So when someone throws a rock through your window, it’s not their fault. You should have defended your house better, or demanded that the window manufacturer make their windows more secure. What kind of sense does that make? If he stole csh out of your wallet, would that be any different? Or should your wallet be to blame?
August 13th, 2004 at 5:20 pm
WHEN YOU HAVE A CONGRESS THAT WILL SPEND MILLIONS TO TRY AND CATCH OR IMPEACH A PRESIDENT AND ONLY GET A STAINED DRESS AS A RESULT DURING WHICH TIME TERRORISTS ARE PLANNING TO DESTROY THE WTC HOW CAN WE EXPECT ANYONE HERE OR ABROAD TO TAKE US SERIOUSLY..
WHEN WE HAVE A PRESIDENT WHO DEMANDS CLEAN LANGUAGE FROM THE MEDIA AND THEN HAS THE V-P SWEAR WITHOUT REPERCUSSIONS WHY WOULD I CARE WHAT THEY THINK IS RIGHT OR WRONG?,,,
WHEN WE PUT MARTHA STEWART ON TRIAL WHILE HALLIBURTON AND OUR LEADERS CHEAT,LIE AND SWINDLE OUR COUNTRY AND ITS CITIZENS HOW CAN WE CHASTISE ANYONE FOR CHASING THE AMERICAN DREAM OF UNENDING WEALTH…
AND WHEN THE SHEEPISH AMERICAN PUBLIC BELIEVES WE WENT TO IRAQ FOR WMD’S WHEN THE TRUTH IS WE WENT BECAUSE JUNIORS DADDY WAS ALMOST KILLED BY SADDAM WE DESERVE WHAT WE GET AND SHOULD NOT WHINE….R/C
August 13th, 2004 at 5:20 pm
To the CIO who got a fat raise and/or bonus and watched the poor workers under him get laid off or screwed out of a bonus or raise they desperatly need and deserve, I hope one day you see the gross injustice of your greed and reasoning.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:20 pm
I am an IT Professional as well, and the poster of the previous message is an idiot, and misses the basic point. Vandalism of property is not about keeping your “SHIT” up to date. (while encouraged, I’ve been protected the whole time all this came out and sit behind a firewall etc, both at work and home). but to say that this attack is the individual Windows users fault is ignorant to the extreme.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:22 pm
The attitude people have regarding the punishment that should be meted out to destructive hackers depends on the which end of the situation they are on.
A victim of a hacker, after having lost lots of essential work and data and/or had to reformat the hard disk, would have a different attitude on the crime and the relevant punishment than a person who only hears about it in the media and was never an actual victim.
I think the opinions of the victims of a crime have more weight than those of bystanders who are not directly affected in any way.
Both opinions are important, but the victims have a valid point.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:22 pm
above post is an example of a whiny asshole, who chooses to rant instead of posting about the issue, possibly submitting some constructive critisism.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:23 pm
I don’t necessarly agree with you.
The intension of this person and his acts is what the subject is. He did something to cause damage to anyone that his code crossed paths. That is what the discussion should be. His intensions!
He must be held responsible for his actions. You can not blame the general public for not keeping up with patches and AV.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:23 pm
smart ass.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:23 pm
I don’t think he deserves jail time. He deserves to have all of his fingers removed.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:24 pm
I live in a high rise so I dont have to worry about someone throwing a rock through my window, but if someone did my windows are not made of glass becouse that would be neglect on the landlords end, imagine sharp glass falling countless stories onto pedestrians possibly killing and maiming them.
But as for your theoritical comment, it is invalid, like comparing an updated system to your virus, worm and trojan plagued relic.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:27 pm
As in people who start forest fires causing great damage to nature and economy, they shoule be sentenced and fined. Even people who need to be rescued from mountaintops incur a great expense and are fined to compensate because they deliberately placed themselves in jeopsardy
August 13th, 2004 at 5:27 pm
Who the hell raised you? You cannot spell and your grammor is horrible.
You are a JOKE, LOL!
August 13th, 2004 at 5:27 pm
Yes, if there were no crooks there would be no need for locks. If there was no illness there would be no need for medication. that doesn’t mean we don’t take it when it is prescribed. people looking for sympathy when there is such an easy solution–one that requires no effort or brains–have come to the wrong place as far as I’m concerned.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:27 pm
No its not. Where the blaster and variants are concerned, a simple update would have prevented infection (user ignorance). If Microsoft had used a different security model no update would have been needed. But no, this kid is smarter than general users and Microsoft because he caused all of this damage and brought the world to it’s knees. While that statement is extreme, you do have to admit, the variant he sent out should not have done any damage to anyone.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:28 pm
I don’t see how people can ignore the fact that this person did something intensional to cause harm.
All the windows haters are fools for even taken sides with people like this.
We run windows because that is what the world runs and I want to be were the work is.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:29 pm
Just tired of all the whiners running Windows complaining about how insecure their systems are.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:33 pm
AMEN!
Corporate America has to strong an influence in our politics. With all the Billions they spend lobeying its no surprise that we are at the whim of Corporate America
August 13th, 2004 at 5:34 pm
IS IT REALLY LOUDER WHEN I TYPE THIS WAY?
August 13th, 2004 at 5:34 pm
How can you justify the fact that this person did something to cause harm or damage to other people’s property. Regardless of O/S.
Intentionally!
August 13th, 2004 at 5:34 pm
huh? you say something?
August 13th, 2004 at 5:37 pm
Um let me invite you to the truth.
What this kid did was allow access to your computer that you were neglectful in keeping up to date, you didn’t lose data. No one lost data, and companies didnt spend money fixing the problem since they have full time techs whos job description includes cleaning viruses they failed to block.
Victims are often people who do not take proper precautions!
August 13th, 2004 at 5:38 pm
You missed the point. here we have one person who went out of his way to cause trouble. While Microsoft ‘could’ done this, or ‘could’ of done that, while not totally irrelevant, misses the point that this individual went out of his way, (for fun or whatever) and damaged someone elses property through his actions.
This on his part was an agression pushed at society and now should be met with equal force for the damage he caused.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:38 pm
To all people supporting/defending Jeffrey Lee Parson:
You are overlooking the damage caused to individuals & businesses. If you buy off on excuses for justifying a virus to penetrate and infect a computer, I ask that you consider the victim’s point of view. If someone walked up off the street to my computer at work, removed my hard drive, reformatted it, and then replaced it would that be OK?
If your beef is with the penal system, that’s one thing. But I ask that we not diminish the damage that Jeffrey Lee Parson caused.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:38 pm
This guy did more damage than if he had gone through his neighbourhood and thrown rocks through a thousand windows.
Viruses are a threat to the continuing viability of the web. This year I have had to have the service techs work on our home computers four times and do two clean installs because of this type of nonsense.
The question is not just punishing him for his crime but deterring others. I think the punishment should be so severe that it shocks anyone thinking of doing it into not doing it.
I’m thinking ten to twenty years as a deterent to others.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:41 pm
and you are some jackass, who once again some dumbass would rather complain that comment on the issue. who’s the joke here, you, you moron.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:41 pm
To me he is a kid, kids seldom think rationally. I understand we live in an unsafe world and that I need to take precautions. I know that by throwing him in jail will leave a permanent scar on his character and not prevent another kid from doing the same thing if not something worse.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:43 pm
Do you not realize that you are a jackass by your own standards, LOL
You really must be an embarresment to your parents, well what should they expect, I mean the raised someone who has no command over there native language.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:45 pm
The responsibility for this should not fall solely on this kid. He needs to be punished. At the same time, there are a substantial number of Windows users in the world that dismissed their responsibility to keep their systems up to date. And Microsoft, the producer of a highly vulnerable product should bear some of the responsibility.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:45 pm
HEY SMART GUY…WHY NOT TO YOUR LOCAL INSURANCE AGENT AND HAVE A NEW MANDATORY INSURANCE LAW PASSED TO PROTECT OUR POOR SELVES AND THEN WE CAN PAY EVEN MORE TO THE CORPORATE PIRATES THAT RUN THIS COUNTRY.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:46 pm
OK Look — Computers are everything, we use them for every little part of life. Therefore an act that deliberately attempts to hurt them, is a true offense. This adult man, should be punished in direct proportion to the wide scale affect that he had. He needs at least 20 years in Jail.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:48 pm
this worm didnt do any physical damage, unlike that rock through the window, and no money was stolen, like the cash from the wallet, the only expenses incurred were lost bandwidth, and the cost to update these systems which should’ve already been updated
i dont remember if blaster was a mail virus or not, but thats what most of them have been lately, and the way a mail virus works is this:
you go out to your mailbox, open it up, there’s some letters, and then there’s a gun… you pick up that gun, and shoot yourself in the foot.
that’s how modern viruses work, so who’s to blame, the one who mailed the gun? or the one who fired it? all update issues aside, if people could grasp the simple concept of not opening suspicious email attachements, there would be a tiny fraction of the virus infections there are now.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:49 pm
LOL this is so great, I just love all the comments. Some are highly entertaining. Keep them coming and I will eventually take a side.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:49 pm
Jeffrey Lee Parsons did not cause any damage to your hard drive.
what he did was basically make a key for your front door but never used it to enter and damage your home.
The only damage he caused was done by tieing up bandwidth and slowing down production on peoples computers who now needed to upgrade there pc’s like they should have in the first place.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:50 pm
wow, do you honestly feel that way? you need to be detained for the safety of those around you. thats like my neighbor who thinks we should kill all the “a-rabs” in the middle east and take the oil because he think’s its rediculous to pay 1.90 for gas.
money should never be componsated in lives, either taken, or ruined
August 13th, 2004 at 5:51 pm
listen again dipshit. I made a serious post, and am still waiting for your ‘coherent’ reply. Of course you are probably an worthless English major or graduate or something else in the ‘liberal’ arts and probably think that we should give this guy a medal instead of fines and jail time, or maybe you are too dim to even give a coherent reply to my original post. besides if you want nice grammar, nice puncuation, go take a English class and get graded on it. I don’t remember doing such with you or asked you for an English correctness check, so once again dipshit, any ‘real’ comment to my first post?
August 13th, 2004 at 5:51 pm
Lets bring it down to terms simple enough for everyone to understand. He did it. Everybody knows he did it. He knew it was wrong, but he did it anyway. He didn’t chose to help society, or use his abilities to do something – ANYTHING constructive. Instead, he actively and purposely sent out willful destruction in the form of a computer virus. Lets put the blame where it belongs: ON HIM. Not society, not the computer, not Microsoft, not his parents, not his school. HIM. HE made the choice, and HE needs to deal with the results. Do you think this is something he just decided to do one day? It takes time to learn the intricacies of current computer technology and commit an act like this. Frankly, the only way ANYONE could POSSIBLY support this miscreant, is if their concepts of responsibility, honesty and fair play are so corrupt, so misdirected and so twisted, that they themselves are unfit to belong in a civilized society. By the way, the penal system is not there simply to “reform” criminals. It never was. It is there to protect society. A person who is willfully destructive SHOULD be removed. P.S. : I also know the difference between an “Anonymous coward” and an “identifiable hacker target”. The fact that there are mentally and morally challenged “entities” out there that would stoop to support that criminal, is more than enough to justify taking minimal steps to CYA.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:52 pm
http://www.freebsd.org
that will solve the windows problem once and for all.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:52 pm
And he should have daily sermons read to him in his prison cell
by: Bill Gates backed by Jesse Jackson.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:53 pm
Every one of my systems runs antiviral software and has a firewall. I still managed to get Lovegate because it came from a trusted source.
Business’ biggest security problem today is the human element. Poorly trained or unmotivated employees that open infected e-mails or bring in infected files on CD-ROMs, downloads, and even on personal laptops. We must expend much more effort in training and motivating employees to change their online behavior.
Businesses are often reluctant to invest money in training their employees or motivating them to behave securely. Which motivation must include a little inhouse butt-kicking. When was the last time you heard of a business finding and publically punishing the employee who opened an infected e-mail or failed to apply a mandatory patch? It probably happens very rarely, simply because the errant employee can very easily argue that their behavior is typical of all employees. Before you know it, you’ll be looking at a wrongful dismissal suit.
I also share the opinion that OS vendors and software purveyors need to share the pain here. Not through legislation or legal suit, but through consumer pressure. Instead of whining about security holes that you pay for twice, install LINUX. Demand that PC vendors offer alternate OS and cleaned PCs. Consider going to thin clients and even to dumb terminals. Demand support for features that enable you to clean and redeploy a PC in under an hour by removing the 100lbs of ugly fat that comes free with every PC you buy. (If there is anything that needs to go on a treadmill, it is a certain OS…). If you think this doesn’t work, look how hard the Redmond boys are working to compete with LINUX in the far east market. Hey _I_ also want XPlite instead of XPPLight.
If it wasn’t some kid in Podunky, the author and distributor of a virus could easily be an AlQaeda recruit. Or perhaps protoges of our keen and legally lax business rivals in India and China. Such perps are out of reach of the US judicial system and unimpressed by stiff jail sentences.
It’s up to us to create business computing environments that are both pysically and behaviorally secure against the worse threats that we can imagine. Do that, and the international sport of amateur virus launching might start to wither on the vine. Also, we will have a distinct business advantage over our competitors.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:54 pm
what damage did he do? he didnt delete things, he didnt destroy systems, simply ate up bandwidth and made some tech guys run around installing updates that should’ve been there anyway
August 13th, 2004 at 5:55 pm
LOL I think you nailed that one.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:56 pm
So if we punish Jeffrey for this crime no one else will ever do it again? If so then we should also punish the first people who commit Murder, Rape, Robbery, Assault, Identity Theft… then we never have to worry about these crimes again and we can live in a land of lollipops and bubblegum.
Punishing one person does not deter others.
August 13th, 2004 at 5:57 pm
OUCH — Hey you know how some countries have tough laws on chewing gum. We should proceed and have tough laws on hackers, this is really not a game — here. The Guy is just over grown brat capable of hurting fragile systems. The fragility of these systems, is not the fault of Bill Gates. It is simply an inherent feature in any system attempt to serve the needs of millions of people.
HEY: Blaster Master — would be a cool prison name
August 13th, 2004 at 5:57 pm
This is a serious reply. I seriously question your assertion that this is no different from breaking windows. Here is why:
1) There is no obvious and immediate way to prevent someone from walking down your street breaking windows. There is an obvious and immediate prevention for what he did.
2) Breaking windows is an extremely tactile thing to do–it is possible for malicious code to be much more abstract. This doesn’t change the consequences of his actions, but it does change how well we can know his intent.
3) I’m not sure that moral decay really has anything to do with this particular problem. I would argue that it has more to do with how indirect our interactions have become. But that is a more philosophical difference, I suppose.
August 13th, 2004 at 6:01 pm
Most people do not commit suicide because they know they wont be coming back —
So the permanence is the deterent
Most people obey the law because of fear. Fear is a powerful deterent. Actually our next president is likely to use fear as a persuasive tool.
WAKE UP MAN
August 13th, 2004 at 6:01 pm
with most text to speech programs, yeah, it is
August 13th, 2004 at 6:01 pm
Seriously you people need to give it a rest. Go after the original author of the blaster worm, not the kid that tweeked it and did a tiny fraction of the damage.
August 13th, 2004 at 6:03 pm
The problem with your argument is that it does not take time to learn the skills to be a hacker–at least not at the level he was doing it. He used a cookbook recipe you can find on the internet. The fact that these snippets of code are so readily available is part of the problem, and part of the reason I do not want to fully put the blame on him.
August 13th, 2004 at 6:04 pm
damn, tough crowd. i’ll stick to lower case, then.
August 13th, 2004 at 6:04 pm
freebsd unlike Windows does not wipe your but —
therefore it is not a solution
August 13th, 2004 at 6:04 pm
thank god there’s another sane person here, the days of hdd eating viri are over, they passed with the likes of the michelangelo virus years ago, all viruses do now is annoy us, tie up bandwidth, and possibly provide access to our computer. another reason to keep any financial info on your computer encrypted, if you do that, even if someone gets in, there’s not much hardcore damage they can inflict on you
August 13th, 2004 at 6:05 pm
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
AMAZING!
I believe that there are several reasons why this kid should be treated with the mercy of the court. First of all, he is likely too young to understand what he did, and probably lacking the mens rea to be properly attached to this conviction. In regards to sentencing, the procesution should be forced to prove that the plaintiff acted with sufficient criminal intent. We must let the punishment fit the crime. Anything over a month in jail and $1000 fine would be unusual punishment in my opinion. Finally, this issue has been blown out of proportion in my opinion, and this ‘fat kid’ as one reader so compassionately referred to him, has become a <b>scapegoat for all fears digital</b> that society misunderstands.
Let’s be very clear about this: the version of blaster that that this kid sent out to the web could only infect machines that were not patched, and it is the responsibility of the computer owner to patch thier own machines. Using windows Auto Update, patching a windows computer, is so benignly trivial that any user who is out of date on their updates should be ashamed of themselves. If I leave the front door to my house open, I cannot press charges against anyone for entering my home. If I do not understand how to close and lock my door, that does not afford me any special rights to prosecution.
According to White House CyberSecurity Czar Richard Clarke: “If you spend more on coffee than on IT security, then you will be hacked,” Clarke said durring his 2002 keynote speech at the RSA conference. “What’s more, you deserve to be hacked.”
I believe the defense for Jeffery Lee Parson has ‘taken a dive’, and that he was not represented properly.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
August 13th, 2004 at 6:06 pm
You should have protected your sh*t and you wouldnt have waisted all that time LOL.
August 13th, 2004 at 6:07 pm
I say give him and all the others the death penalty… all the information i lost or memories that cannot be tracked back are sadly gone, for that, someone must pay…. the countless hours of running anti virus, looking at registry files or re intalling everyting…, only to find out some smart alec is up to no good with his gift… f him/them….. they shouldn’t be allowed to use the internet ever again…. or if hes so good, imprision him in the countries labs, to write anti virus software to protect others from people like him — fight fire with fire
August 13th, 2004 at 6:11 pm
I for one obey the law becouse I have morals and respect for other people and there property.
But at the sametime I understand there are a small percentage that dont so I follow the neccessary precautions to safeguard my Family, my Self, and my property (which includes my computer and the information stored on it).
I believe what he did was wrong but I also understand he is a kid with his whole life in front of him and hopefully he will be more productive to society in the future, when he matures. Maybe he will even land a job at an antivirus company protecting us from the next potential virus threat, since he seams to have a good understanding with how they work and spread. I just can’t imagine throwing the book at him for the fact that he did something stupid that used up bandwidth and forced people to perform the upgrades they should have been performing anyways.
August 13th, 2004 at 6:11 pm
Sweet! finally a reply:)
1. sure there is. put up some sort of shield. (isn’t that what we have to do with windows? they do this in shops in a lot of large cities.
2. are you telling me that his ‘intent’ wasn’t malicious? (aren’t all viri and worms, generally built with mal-intent? taking my computer time isn’t theft?
(sort of seperate section, and maybe a bit of a rant)
3. I guess my beef with the moral decay issue is basically as a society we are so focused on the individual that parents and social groups aren’t instilling the needed values (maybe they don’t have the values themselves) to our children.
Morality at its most basic level is an extension of the survival instinct.
Man has no moral nature that isn’t taught/learned, beyond the fight or flight syndrome, everything else is a learned response to help us deal with our fellow humans with as little friction as possible, and still get our way/want)
Here is an example of where he didn’t either learn right from wrong (from parents, and other social groups), or there was just basic mal intent.
either way serious consequences should ensue due to his ‘infringement’ on others resources (property, time, etc)
thanks for the comment.
August 13th, 2004 at 6:14 pm
LOL. I’ve had the pleasure of re-formatting hard drives of non-protected computers after they became too messed up to recover. I guess McAfee and Norton need to be thinking of another business model.
http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/blast.mspx
August 13th, 2004 at 6:17 pm
From the beginning we can see how smart you are “I CIO in a..” LOL How about I am a CIO. LOL And if you are a business person, then you should know that any important data should be backed up. Even a 10 year old knows to back up data so that it doesn’t get lost. Maybe you need to take some classes on how to manage data and work with a computer.
August 13th, 2004 at 6:17 pm
Well said.
August 13th, 2004 at 6:20 pm
Throw him in a prison cell with our proud ghay Amerikun:
James McGreevey
For bits and bytes sake !!!
August 13th, 2004 at 6:21 pm
The people posting for obscenely over the top punishments are arrogant fools. Most of today’s viruses do nothing to physically harm you PCs, so comparing it to damage to your car or house is irrelevant. I don’t feel as violated if my PC got a virus compared to someone breaking into my house. Fat camp, boot camp, a tour of duty in Iraq,…pfft come on people it because of people like you that ostracize others into to striking out. I really could not care if you were not able to access your favorite <–insert name dumb web site–> for a weekend, so what. If some corporate system went down for a day or two, did the world come to an end? 911 systems are there other numbers that you can contact in an emergency that will be just as efficient? In this case there was no real physical loss.
As we forge our way into the Internet and crimes such as this, punishments we currently have do not fully fit. In this case 1-3yrs of jail time with parole at about 18 months, could be fitting. likely fitting with the US judicial system since this is his first offense he will get maybe 2 years house arrest and banned from using a PC for 4 years, unless Bill Gates himself takes the stand and stuffs the judges bank account I doubt the kid will see the inside of a prison cell (at least for this crime).
August 13th, 2004 at 6:22 pm
I agree that there exists a way to avoid window breakage, but a huge fence, etcetera, is quite expensive. Avoiding his hack would have been cheap and *automatic* with windows auto-update or choosing to not use windows. I’m not saying this is a reason to not use windows, but the choice to use windows should go along with subscribing to the auto-update.
Secondly, I think it is entirely possible that his intent was not malicious. Hacker’s code is a puzzle, and to an introverted kid like this, a puzzle that was probably very abstract–similar to a video game. What I am asserting is that the psychological barrier to creating havoc with computer code is much lower than the psychological barrier to causing physical, tangible property damage. And yes, I think that makes a difference in how we should punish him.
Lastly, although people joke about it here, I really think that there are good opportunities with kids like this. I mean, why is it that Microsoft doesn’t set up a network of it’s computers specifically to get hacked, and offer a monthly reward to whomever does the best job? My guess is that such a possibility would have been as intriguing to this 19 year old, and we would be thanking him. Plus, I think it is clear that Microsoft needs exactly that kind of help, entirely outside of considering whether it should retain any responsibility for the losses due to these hacks.
August 13th, 2004 at 6:24 pm
I agree with you fully, Microsoft could save itself alot of headaches by giving Hackers a ligitamate way to use there talents.
August 13th, 2004 at 6:36 pm
throw fatty in the can. Can Virus Spam.
August 13th, 2004 at 6:37 pm
I can walk around my house and see if my doors are open and if they are locked. I have to go to much more work and have more skills that what I learned when I was 4 years old to detect open doors in my computer.
This virus can cause damage in lost time and possibly lost data http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/blast.mspx
So if protection or a patch is available for free, it’s ok to spread a virus? But only if it’s available thru auto-update from Microsoft? Is is Ok to spread a virus where only McAfee or Norton already has a patch?
I understand that the prosecution has to prove his case, but do you think that since he modified a virus (something that can cause damage) and propigating he did so without ANY criminal intent?
August 13th, 2004 at 6:40 pm
Blaster was not an email virus. It was all automatic. So that gun in your mailbox just shot you without you doing anything to it. So now that’s your fault for not locking your mailbox?
Yes there was physical damage done. Look at how data gets onto your computer. It’s not a “virtual” process. Neither is my check, and I get paid alot of money to spend time working on machines.
So the claim that no money was taken from the proverbial wallet is way off, ask the person who pays me if it cost him anything.
I agree, we should protect ourselves. But at the same time, you don’t have the right to infringe on me or my property. That computer and the data on it, is my physical property. No different than the rock through your window. You have to replace the window, and hire someone to do that. Not free like many of the free downloads that fixed the Blaster problem.
He commited a crime by destroying property and it cost people money. He knew it was a crime and if he didn’t, ingnorance is no defense. True his parents may not have raised him right or whatever else the bleeding hearts want to through in here as the cause. But the problem lies in accountability. Do you tell your children it’s their fault when they don’t do what they are told? No, and neither did your parents. If we are held accountable for our actions in this world, then 3 years it is. He shouldv’e thought about that before he decided to act.
My opinion: worth what you paid!
August 13th, 2004 at 6:40 pm
As people who create a spread viruses help keep you employed, good answer.
August 13th, 2004 at 6:41 pm
and a firewall, and antivirus aren’t an added expense? I’m not even commenting on users keeping their system up to date. they definitely should.
I disagree with the malicious intent. he took an existing virus (one known to cause trouble, modified it for his own ends, and released it) If he didn’t release it and used it as a ‘learning’ experience, I would agree with you, but, he didn’t.
and on that note, how can you defend vandalism in any form? he threw the rock that compromised those computers, just because they were generally corporate computers makes it less offensive? I say not. Just because can’t walk down the street and step on broken glass doesn’t mean damage wasn’t done, it just wasn’t quite as visible.
on the last part, you are right. he is a bright kid not in the with general youth of the country and we should use his talents. Thank him No. Bad behavior should NEVER be rewarded. His talents should be used in some manner that would continue to ‘educate’ him, as well as make it VERY certain that he not only understands that he’s in trouble, but why he’s in trouble, and why what he did was unethical at a bare minimum. Good coders are hard to find.
Thank him for using someone elses code? hmmm…. that doesn’t sound right.
August 13th, 2004 at 6:48 pm
As a Linux user, I’m sure that there’s a lot of things that you don’t have a clue about. But I bet you can spend hours upon hours getting SendMail to work.
August 13th, 2004 at 6:53 pm
what did he destroy? and i said that i did not know if blaster was a mail virus, i never had to pay much attention to it at the time because it didnt affect me, but i now know it used an hole in the remote procedure call in xp.
but seriously? locking your mailbox? what is that? how could you send or recieve mail that way? that doesnt even make sense! besides, that was simply an analogy, not to be taken literally
and the person who paid you should’ve done it themselves when the patches and antivirus updates were first released.
im not saying he did nothing wrong.
im simply saying the punishment seems VERY out of proportion to the crime, prison time for simply MODIFIYING an existing virus?
im all for some kind of punishment, he didnt steal, didnt destroy data, simply used up peoples time installing patches that should’ve already been in place!
he should probably server some kind of parole w/ a community service requirement, not have his wages garnished for the rest of his life or destroy his life with prison time for simply cobbling together 2 pieces of code that then went on to annoy a lot of people and got them to take security steps that should’ve already been taken.
August 13th, 2004 at 6:54 pm
To: B.M. et al
One of the few hopeful things in this world is the uniting of the masses through the use of the internet. Look what this power is doing in China, Burma, Iran and yes the U.S. Those too ignorant of the positive power of the internet are screwing up this opportunity for the world. Instead of abusing computers go abuse yourself and leave the rest of us alone.
Yours,
Pollyanna
August 13th, 2004 at 6:54 pm
Pathetic. You people are unbelievabley nasty, negative, vindictive, self serving and narrow minded. I’m sure other adjectives exist. I don’t want to fill the page with them.
Boo F*****G Hoo. Your computer got nuked. You got a bug. Your solution? Throw the perps in jail… How STUPID are you? Did you have a current copy of Norton, McAfee, Stop Sign or any other self updating virus stop gap running on your system? I’ll bet you did not!
Were you running any sort of firewall like Black Ice or Norton Defender (or whatever they are calling that now)? NOPE. I use a firewall. I took the time to close the ports that are necessary. I have application protection running so that any unfamiliar progs don’t execute without authorization. Guess what? My home network (1 server, 3 workstations (mine, wife, spare), my Server Beach boxes (1 running win2k server the other 2003 win server) and 1 Rack Space box are miraculously virus free. Go figure. Is it rocket science? No! It’s common sense.
Did you open an attachment from a user that you were not familiar with? Did you execute a program that was unknown to you? Yes? IDIOT. Look in the mirror hoss. You’re the idiot that caused yourself to reformat your system and reload Windows. You’re the dumb ass that forgot to follow the basic rules. You don’t want to be pissed off at yourself? TOUGH SHIT. GET THERE.
Oh! The “normal” people don’t know about that stuff? Get a GRIP! It’s YOUR responsibility to know! If you own a gun and you blow a hole into your foot because you didn’t receive the proper training prior to handling that deadly piece of pig iron are you going to blame yourself? Duh?!
“A computer isn’t a toy.” Have kids? Then you’ve said it. But have you ever thought about those words? Think about it! It’s not just a whirring pile of plastic, silicon and metal friend. It’s an enormously powerful machine. It can do things that you could never do with you own mind. Take it from one who remembers a world without PC’s. If you are going to “play” with a computer, you better get to know it first so that you don’t blow a hole in your foot.
This mentality, that some of our country’s citizens have chosen to subscribe to, that says “Lynch Them!” is so short sighted. Those two young minds created something. Did you forget that? They were creative and intelligent enough to infect 70% of the computers on the web! HOLY CRAP!
Is what they did right? OF COURSE NOT! Should they be punished? OF COURSE THEY SHOULD!
But think about it for a second…
These are kids. 3 years? Take their computers away? Put them in jail for life? What are you stupid people thinking? They don’t need to be cut off from technology. They need to be put on the bleeding edge of technology development. Who better to bust a hacker than a hacker? Who better to bust a bug than a bug maker?
These guys obviously lack both guidance and a sense of direction. Why waste their minds and talent. Sure! Punish them. Make them give away 2000 hours of their time to a software development company who specializes in security for the common man. Make them receive an education. Make them use that education to make things better. Keep them under supervision for 5 years!
Just make sure that when they are let go they have the skills they need to make a positive contribution to society. Too often in this country we treat effect instead of cause. If we continue to treat effect. We are going to continuously deal with effect. The “law” says that for every action there must be a reaction right? If we are continuously dealing with reaction (effect) and ignoring what is causing the reaction (action) then we will be doing nothing other than making ourselves busy work dealing with the same reaction time and time and time again. Want to change things? Deal with what causes the reaction. The “cause” of the effect… not the effect.
There is a REASON these kids did this. 1 is they were obviously bored. 2 is a lack of leadership in their lives. 3 is an obvious sense of direction. Give them those three things and hone their skills and they will have the ability to do wonderful things. Lock them up and waste another genius. Brilliant…
Mark D. HonestyFactor.com
August 13th, 2004 at 6:55 pm
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August 13th, 2004 at 6:56 pm
Translation:
This guy needs to go to jail and stay there for a long tyme.. I can’t believe he will prolly only get 3 years! WTF??? He caused mass commotion, several millions in damages, and prolly hundreds more millions in lost tyme for all those people who had to have their systems repaired. The US needs to make an example of this hefty looser and either get 100 punches from everyone in the world, then shot, i think that would be fair
August 13th, 2004 at 6:56 pm
The correlations to physical damage are digital metaphors. If someone stole your computer would the world come to an end? Probably not, but the person who took your computer committed a crime. It’s a crime to enter someone else’s computer without permission. If you use DCOM and drop a file onto my computer hard drive, that’s a crime. The virus performed this crime by proxy.
August 13th, 2004 at 7:02 pm
why? what the hell, why post in 1337? does this serve any purpose? no, additionally, you’re just ranting, no real reasons, look at this logically. but of course, i cant really expect that from someone who actually types in 1337
August 13th, 2004 at 7:14 pm
Well I guess the laws need to be better defined but there has to be a deterrent.
August 13th, 2004 at 7:14 pm
Well I guess the laws need to be better defined but there has to be a deterrent.
August 13th, 2004 at 7:36 pm
Not all people are techinal whizes like you. Even though you are protected now, it is possible that a new virus could get around your current protection and destroy your data. I don’t wish that, but I wonder if your tone might change if it did happen. I wonder if you might blame yourself, your firewall or anti-virus company, or the person who created the virus.
Fine, change the penal system and reform people who create viruses or put these people to good use.
I can’t understand why anyone would defend a person who writes a virus. The “law” also states that anyone breaking into a computer using DCOM and drops a file on a hard drive is breaking the “law”.
August 13th, 2004 at 7:36 pm
My bad. I forgot how stupid most users are.
August 13th, 2004 at 7:38 pm
Is this your stance on anyone who writes a virus? At what age should they be accountable for their actions?
How do you set deterrents for others who would want to try this?
I’ve seen enough of these attacks going around and these kids must know that these viruses are causing a lot of havoc. That is the part that bothers me. These two are IT savy so they must have known what they were doing.
No one want to ruin anyone’s life, they are just tired of the crap.
August 13th, 2004 at 7:45 pm
¥0µr m3$$493 1$ 900Ð, h0w3v3r, µ$1n9 £337 ƒ0rm47 70 Ð0 17 1$ pr0b4b£¥ n07 7h3 m0$7 3ƒƒ3(71v3 700£ ƒ0r (0mmµn1(4710n 1n 7h1$ ƒ0rµm. (I do however agree the punk needs to learn a lesson…I do enough screwing up my own stuff w/little or no help than to have to deal with some dipshit who’s so proud of writing his own code that he thinks nothing of screwing over his peers…we call people like that ‘attention whores’.
August 13th, 2004 at 7:47 pm
It doesnt take a tech whiz to use sense. All the time you’ve spent reading this shit you could have been reading a firewall manual. Quit your f*****g whining and take at least some of the responsibility for a complex machine that YOU put on a world wide network. If you catch a bug the to bad for you, learn from it! Get a firewall! Get a clue while you’re at it.
August 13th, 2004 at 7:48 pm
Is this your stance on anyone who writes a virus? At what age should they be accountable for their actions?
How do you set deterrents for others who would want to try this?
I’ve seen enough of these attacks going around and these kids must know that these viruses are causing a lot of havoc. That is the part that bothers me. These two are IT savy so they must have known what they were doing.
No one want to ruin anyone’s life, they are just tired of the crap.
August 13th, 2004 at 7:49 pm
If you’re tired of the “crap” then how about this http://www.digitalriver.com/dr/v2/ec_dynamic.main?SP=1&PN=10&sid=26412
Stop being a victim and do something about it.
August 13th, 2004 at 8:10 pm
When I said they, that does not mean me. I was speaking about the majority of the remarks against these two.
My systems are patched but the people you seem to care less about that are not patched are the ones that are used to replicate this shit and the isp’s don’t seem to give enough of a shit to stop them or shut them off. As long as they get their check every month all is good.
August 13th, 2004 at 8:30 pm
I don’t think it’s even possible to approach subjects in todays society, such as this, until we come to a realization….
Admit that “Your as mad as hell and you’re not going to take it anymore”.
In this day ruled by high technology….Technology that is so flawed that any socially inept teenager can spend his free time developing hacked software that can cost the sector billions of dollars…You just have to say.
“I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”
I want everyone out there reading this post to walk to your keyboards and e-mail Bill Gates, and to tell him…
“You’re as mad as hell and you’re not going to take it anymore.”
If you want to be the self appointed ruler of 95% of the office and home computer market share…Perhaps you should make your software resilient enough to handle the attacks of novice malicious programmers?
August 13th, 2004 at 8:39 pm
I’m not whining. Quit defening people who break the law. Unauthorized computer access is a crime.
August 13th, 2004 at 9:32 pm
You are assuming that the virus only ate up people’s time .Not true. This virus ate up resources, corrupted data and made many machines unusable. It destroyed data, and resources.
The mailbox comment was in reference to your gun in the mailbox analogy. “locking your mailbox? what is that?” is exactly my point. There are laws against putting hermful things in people’s mailboxes so what is the difference?
He did steal, and he did destroy data. You are obviously uniformed on what the effects of this virus had on many computers. We pay for access to the internet, he rendered that access useless. Did you get a refund on that? Didn’t think so. But you paid for service you couldn’t use, which you needed to fix a broken computer you didn’t break. So to fix what he broke, cost money. Much like fixing that window he through a rock through, huh?
So if you don’t lock your door does that give me the right to go into your house and detroy your file cabinet (data), then cut your phone lines (internet access he overwhealmed) and in your eyes, picking up some trash is going to deter me or anyone else from doing that again.
My opinion: worth what you paid!!!
August 13th, 2004 at 9:40 pm
He’s just a kid. So what if he’s a loser. The punishment should fit the crime. All he did was modify code and then unleash it.
I don’t care what anyone says. He doesn’t deserve a million dollar fine and 14 months in prison.
It’s a very sad day when the corporations manage to turn the citizen’s against each other.
August 13th, 2004 at 9:44 pm
You are assuming that the virus only ate up people’s time .Not true. This virus ate up resources, corrupted data and made many machines unusable. It destroyed data, and resources.
The mailbox comment was in reference to your gun in the mailbox analogy. “locking your mailbox? what is that?” is exactly my point. There are laws against putting hermful things in people’s mailboxes so what is the difference?
He did steal, and he did destroy data. You are obviously uniformed on what the effects of this virus had on many computers. We pay for access to the internet, he rendered that access useless. Did you get a refund on that? Didn’t think so. But you paid for service you couldn’t use, which you needed to fix a broken computer you didn’t break. So to fix what he broke, cost money. Much like fixing that window he through a rock through, huh?
So if you don’t lock your door does that give me the right to go into your house and detroy your file cabinet (data), then cut your phone lines (internet access he overwhealmed) and in your eyes, picking up some trash is going to deter me or anyone else from doing that again.
My opinion: worth what you paid!!!
August 13th, 2004 at 10:00 pm
We CANNOT deal with this on a case by case basis!
Where is the money going to come from to pay for all these court cases? …Taxes/you&I !
The perpetrators should have to do many 100’s of hours of FREE
computer repair/service for charitable organizations.
We need to do something to scare the living $H!T out of the next potential hacker/person with similar ideas of computer malice.
P.S. I’m NOT an ‘Anonymous Coward’…
I’m a SMART GUY who doesn’t give out his email address to
commercial entities, and therefore never ever gets spam!!!!!! : P
August 13th, 2004 at 10:14 pm
These kids have to be trained to not have fun creating viruses. It’s a game to them, but strikes deep at so much of society’s productivity. I’m for a stiff punishment. Also, some way of showing these kids what havoc they wreak in people’s lives. They might laugh at it, but some prison time will wipe the smiles off their faces. Brent Poirier, Attorney
August 13th, 2004 at 10:37 pm
Instead of a GPS locator and removal from computers, what needs to be done is have electrodes placed in his finger tips that give of a little shock everytime he types. Then have him type out 5000 times; “I won’t write malicious code, anymore.” Kind of like the old black board days.
August 13th, 2004 at 11:08 pm
Aye, keelhaul the overstuff blimpo along with Bill Gates!
August 13th, 2004 at 11:37 pm
Saying someone is stupid because they aren’t computer saavy is the mark of an idiot. This is coming from someone who has worked on several computer designs and software at all levels. Learn to use the dictionary and distinguish the difference between “stupid” and “ignorant”.
August 14th, 2004 at 12:50 am
Seems like a lot of people here are trying to make these perpetrators the victims of law, just because a hole was there. First and most important, they had a choice between right and wrong.
Concerning security, car manufactures despite the competition still cannot make a security system that prevents car theft, but you don’t blame the manufacturer or owner. The thief is caught and prosecuted when possible. It is obvious there is a lot more damage involved than the loss of a car when a virus is unleashed.
Concerning computing at home, I don’t know anyone that feels safe despite software manufacturer security claims. At home we all spend too much time running spy ware, anti-virus scans and updates to think otherwise, it is now a regular nuisance. Remember the days when?
Concerning computing at work, there are not just large corporations, there are the millions of small innocuous privately owned businesses in every town just getting by that are inundated daily with potentially troublesome or damaging attacks with astronomical costs to maintain and protect even the smallest network. We cannot go to work or relax at home without having to deal with all the cyber garbage and threats.
People writing these codes don’t care about the millions of us blokes, you, their neighbors or friends. And, don’t forget the people flying in the air. These perpetrators are only thinking of there own program tinkering fun. Or worse, proving a point everyone already knows for the sake of their own ego and millions upon millions of average Joe’s stuck in the middle.
We all know that lack of competition in the present monopoly can be reason for lack of security improvement. But, that is no excuse to unleash damaging and costly viruses on innocent bystanders. Slapping these people on the wrist can only encourage others like them to create more damaging code. They should all be dealt with harshly. Both jail time and thousands in fines is appropriate. This wasn’t a teenager’s joyride in a car.
August 14th, 2004 at 3:12 am
If this person is savy enough to modify the code, he knew exactly what he was doing. Are you kidding me, stats about viruses have been published for years now.
a hack is a hack, get a job and prove yourself or start a company.
Google?
August 14th, 2004 at 3:19 am
How can you say that. If you have worked with any o/s you know that auto update is not the answer. In fact, would you trust your production environment to AUTOUPDATE. I wouldn’t hire you if you did.
The manufacture is not responsible for this crap. The person who wrote the virus is.
Simple, if you left your front door unlocked and someone broke into your house, who are the police going to arrest?
August 14th, 2004 at 3:28 am
I totally agree.
I have been going through this for five years now. The time is now to set the example and let the rest know that you will pay for your actions.
August 14th, 2004 at 5:23 am
If he had a business this would be called spam or the like and we would keep on marching to the keyboard clicks.
August 14th, 2004 at 6:31 am
Man, the point is that those who wrote shoddy software that allows this kind of easy tampering should go to jail, not kids like him. The people who spend tons of money that can’t even take care of their intranet are just worthless. Man, Money does talk in this country. No wonder GWB is going to get re-elected — he’s counting on those suckers …
August 14th, 2004 at 4:20 pm
From what i’ve seen and read I can’t believe people are getting so fired up now, about something that has been a growing problem for years. It seems that now the politicians have a figurehead on which to place all the misguided hatred towards ’shadowy’ PC users. What we need here is not harsher sentencing or finger pointing, we need to de-mystify technology, better educate people as to how to secure their systems and not rely so heavily on manufacturers claims of security. When you go to buy a car, do you walk up, purchase get in and drive it away? No, you insist on Log Books, safety check records etc etc.
Do the same for your PC. If you have gigs worth of Documents/MP3’s etc, then you know how valuable your PC is so why sit back and leave it open? If you know most of your work/entertainment is on your PC, and that data is irreplacable then you do your damnest to protect it. Stop being so lazy, relying on software to be 100% bullet-proof, read the tech sites, update regularly and stop blaming other people for your own stupidity and niavety.
August 14th, 2004 at 4:33 pm
They should both be taken out and shot. They are terrorists that use computers instead of guns and bombs. I am an engineer at a small aerospace mfg company who also has the job of dealing with 30-some PCs on the corp network. Every time I have to deal with a worm or virus our company loses money. It’s like that everywhere.
The last bagel worm cost me about 6 hours I could have been doing billable work. Multiply that by every company in the USA and what do you get?
If you ask me, cyber terrorists should get the death penalty.
August 14th, 2004 at 8:19 pm
48,000 hosts (i’m sure this is an estimate). Like this is even comparable to the current netwise hostcount. Those who can’t use their head enough to manage patching / firewalling on their own boxes deserve to be owned. Its a price you pay for ignorance.
August 14th, 2004 at 8:20 pm
You are completely nuts.
August 14th, 2004 at 8:21 pm
bingo!
August 14th, 2004 at 8:23 pm
Government and big corporations should concider hiring “kids” like this to work for them. This way they will have the “brains” of the society on their side rather then being pissed at them, writing more viruses to avenge each-other.
Thank you.
August 14th, 2004 at 10:54 pm
$1,000,000 per violation per virus. That should stop the onslaught of new ons every day.
August 14th, 2004 at 10:56 pm
Yeah, like sendmail
August 14th, 2004 at 11:28 pm
Loosers, use linux, linux rulez!!
August 15th, 2004 at 12:11 am
This is a bullshit sentence to cover up the fact they never bothered to find the original perpetrator. They just want the general public moron to have that cozy feeling of “good they caught THE GUY”. He ain’t the guy and sine he is a teenager they should spank him and let him go. If corporations lost millions as a result thats too bad. He is a taxpayer, and they aren’t.
August 15th, 2004 at 12:16 am
Hi I’m an anonymous coward called Jerome Santos. I think a lot of this kind of crap would never even happen if more people out there used GNU/LINUX instead of windows. The fact that 90some% of you people use the same isecure, bug ridden flawed system is the real root of the problem. Try using linux some time’ its not prone to infection, and its way more advanced and powerful…and its FREE.
I’m not condoning what these guys have done with their viruses here, I’m just saying that when people trust something like windows on their computers, they’re almost asking for it. And yeah, it wouldn’t hurt that dude to get on a treadmill once in a while; its good for all of us.
August 15th, 2004 at 12:39 am
People that spend time thinking of wys to harm others, either physical, emotional, psychologicol, finacial or any other way that disrupts the flow of life should be prepared for the consequences. I am sure that they where thinking of the consequences at the time they where thinking of the crime.
August 15th, 2004 at 5:07 am
What we have to realize is that his biggest crime was to cost companies( big business) money. In America this is the best way of gaining immediate federal attention. Simply beating, raping and murdering would have gotten much less attention unless done on a grand scale. I have a lot more problem with the goofs who spread the spam which cost me time and money. I really enjoy the pop-ups that essentially threaten to keep popping up so long as we don’t purchase their software to prevent…. pop-ups. If the lad had only harmed Microsoft he would likely have been hailed as a hero among many of the internet crowd…myself included. The unfortunate part of his actions is the fact that the powers that be will use actions such as this to justify even greater monitoring of the internet(us). Between the hackers and the terrorists, the feds will eventually have reason enough to put the monitors on everything we do. Fact is… they practically do already. The only thing slowing them down now is that pesky little problem of the American Constitution. But alas…sooner or later they will use these reasons to get around that too.
August 15th, 2004 at 12:57 pm
I rule and you suck. Shut up. All of you.
August 22nd, 2004 at 5:12 pm
Seems everyone has to work extra hours fixing Microsofts trash every few months anyways, this is no different. And thats even without the worms.
July 10th, 2005 at 12:14 am
jerome what city are you from