Blaster Worm Kid Caught
 

I came across this article and thought all you computer geeks might be interested:p

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...rnet_attack_16

I like this part:
<blockquote><i>Parson apparently took few steps to disguise his identity. As a byproduct of each infection, every victim's computer sent signals back to the "t33kid.com" Web site that Parson had registered in his own name, listing his home address in Minnesota.

[...]

By midday Friday, hours after Parson's arrest, professional virus-hunters across the Internet were slapping their foreheads in frustration that nobody figured out the clues earlier.</i></blockquote>

Personally, I feel bad for the kid. He certainly doesn't deserve to have his life destroyed.

Oh, I guess this guy didn't actually write the original virus. He only released slightly modified versions.

What does he deserve? I'm not a proponent of vigilante justice, but damn, no virus author (or adapter in this case) better ever show up at my office. The virus may have ben benign to the extent that it didn't actually damage any data, but it and its ilk created a shitload of extra work for a lot of people.

Juju, you're a warm and wonderful human being and I love you as much as Dave will allow. BUT, I'm having a hard time with this.
This scumbag, piece of shit, mother fucker doesn't deserve to have his life ruined? If his life, is indeed ruined, which I didn't see any indication of in the article, who's responsible? His parents? The school system? Society? It couldn't be HIMSELF.
He's 18 years old. Why when I was 18, I was responsible for everything, in 3 feet of snow, up hill, both ways.
This guy had what, 7 or 8 computers and modified this virus, so I'd assume he's more than a little familiar with the cyber world and the consequences of his actions on others.
Why? As I just pointed out, not because he wasn't cyber savy. That leaves me the only other reason that comes to mind. Now I could be wrong, but IMHO he just DIDN'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK about anybody else. How much grief or cost to anyone else never crossed his mind because he was doing his own thing.
We're not talking about a double parker or the kids with the boom box blocking the sidewalk, although it's a symtom of the same attitudes. And I for one am sick and tired of it.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go back to the post on castration.

Based on what I've read, he just sounds like a wannabe hacker copycat turd.

Oooh! What he's charged with is under the Patriot Act! Sucks to be him!

I did some cracking as a kid. I had back doors to our entire academic computing system in college. A couple of us did and we shared each other's work and added to it. This is the same as kids who, before the computer era, would tinker around with locks to figure out how they work. We knew that what we were doing is illegal, BUT, we also knew where the line into immoral was, and we never crossed it. Mess up other people's systems, steal their data, ruin their work, you must be punished.

Don't forget NO coat or boots, either Brucey:p

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Heh, you've got it backwards Bruce. The harm he did not only mattered, it was the point.
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This jerk was intentionaly causing others harm. On a large scale. I don't know that he deserves to get bent over by Bubba, but he certainly needs to have his life ruined. That's the only chance he has of picking up the pieces and doing something better with it. I don't think a hug is going to make him rethink his direction in life.

Which begs the question at what point does hacking become illegal. The top security people (I suspect) were hackers. Therefore they would be good security people. But does one need to preform illegal activities to learn computer security? At what point - what is the prerequisite - that makes hacking illegal verse legal and educational?

Just remember, no means no.:D

I had to spend time going to a friend's business, removing Blaster, and installing updates to software to prevent it. I also had to do the same to my six computers at home. I think the kid at least needs to pay me for my time. Let's see, about five hours at $1,000.00 per hour....

Probably not that much more than his legal fees are going to run, the dumbshit.

OK, $5,000 minus the $3 in his savings leaves...uh...do you need your lawn mowed?;)

There's no way you just accidentally do what he's done. "I accidentally wrote a virus, registered a domain to my name, and had the virus call home to it." Criminal, irresponsible, and really dumb.

His punishment should be to have Kevin Mitnick beat him with an IBM M-model keyboard.

Nah, man. For the pain in the ass he's been, even writing a variation... they oughta deport him to China and put him on trial there. (Tip Of The Day: they impose capital punishment for "hackers".)

I don't care if you're fat, socially awkward and have no friends. There are some things that aren't excusable. He can rot in a fucking prison cell with the rest of the assholes that do their best to make life hard for the rest of us.