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Author
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Topic: Blaster worm variant's author had corrupting cinema industry past
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Brad Miller
Administrator
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Posts: 17775
From: Plano, TX (36.2 miles NW of Rockwall)
Registered: May 99
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posted 09-02-2003 02:58 AM
For archival use since external web sites generally do not keep pages with the same URL forever, please always copy the text from the article as well as providing a link to it and giving credit to the website. quote:
Technology - Reuters
Worm Suspect Said Just a Normal, Fun-Loving Teen
Sat Aug 30, 6:28 PM ET
Add Technology - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Todd Melby
HOPKINS, Minn. (Reuters) - A friend of a Minnesota high school student charged with unleashing a new strain of the Blaster Internet worm that infected computers around the world described him on Saturday as "just a kid" who is likely innocent.
Mike Heldt, who once worked with suspect Jeffrey Lee Parson, 18, at a local movie theater, told Reuters he and Parson like to shoot billiards, rent movies, play video games and "just sit around and joke like other kids."
"I don't think he's really a hacker," said Heldt, an 18-year-old who works the overnight shift at a local gas station and lives in the same working-class neighborhood as Parson. "He's just a kid that got into something that's bigger than he is, that's all."
But computer security specialists, who are still searching for the creator of the worm, said altering a worm is not as hard as creating one.
"It was a very deliberate act," said Vincent Weafer, senior director of Symantec Security Response. "But it wasn't complex. It doesn't take a huge amount of knowledge."
According to court documents, the 6-foot-4 (1.9-meter), 320-pound (145 kg) Parson has admitted creating a variant of the Blaster, a self-replicating worm that bores through a Windows security hole, harnessing computers to launch concerted data attacks via the Internet on a Microsoft Corp. technical service Web site.
Microsoft, which says Blaster has caused millions of dollars of damage, helped authorities in the case.
HOUSE ARREST
Parson was arrested on Friday and charged with one count of intentionally causing or attempting to cause damage to a computer. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
"This young man ... was very sophisticated in his understanding of computers," said U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger of Minnesota.
Hours after being charged, Parson, along with Heldt, watched the news at his home in Hopkins, a western suburb of Minneapolis, where he is under house arrest and required to wear an electronic monitoring device.
A friend of Parson's mother was sympathetic.
"They're really nice people," said Maureen Carriveau, a neighbor of the Parson family. "This has to be so heartbreaking. Every parent wants the best for their kids."
But some local residents were upset.
"It screws up everything," said Leanne Damke, who lives down the street from Parson. The 32-year-old mother of two says she had trouble getting medication from a pharmacy due to the worm.
"I think he wanted it to get out of hand," she added. "When someone puts something like that on the computer, he's doing it on purpose."
Authorities have removed seven computers from the apartment where Parson lives with his family.
At his appearance on Friday in U.S. Federal Court in St. Paul, Minnesota, Parson wore a faded gray T-shirt, cargo shorts and high-top sneakers. The judge banned him from using the Internet, surfing the World Wide Web or using messaging services.
Once they absolutely determine the author of this lovely work, (s)he needs to be treated to lifetime in prison with no possibility for early release and no access to a computer of any kind. This kind of crap will not stop until these kids see that their life will be over if they do it. Simply getting them to see the light on how much damage they can cause clearly doesn't work.
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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."
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Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001
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posted 09-02-2003 07:15 PM
I strongly agree. "Crackers," Hackers, etc. need to be punished very severely. Right now the DOJ and other law enforcement authorities aren't taking the threat seriously.
So many things we take for granted are computerized these days. Traffic control systems, weather monitoring stations, life support systems in hospitals, home fire/burglary detection services and more are all computerized, networked and potentially vulnerable to malicious code. Someone could get killed with this shit.
Yet, those snotty, zit-covered teens who hack and crack think it's all some Dungeons and Dragons kind of game where no harm is done. They're immature morons who don't realize (or care) they're hurting other people with that nonsense. And then you have identity thieves and potential terrorists getting into the mix as well.
IMHO, the act of releasing a worm or virus should be treated the same way as someone robbing a convenience store with a loaded shotgun. Throw their asses in the clink for a few decades.
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