[ISN] German Security Firm Hires Hacker Awaiting Trial

[InfoSec News]

http://www.techweb.com/wire/security/47900348

By TechWeb News 
September 20, 2004

A German security firm has hired the teen accused of writing the
Sasser and Netsky worms, a move that sends a dangerous message to
hackers, anti-virus firms said Monday.

Firewall provider Securepoint, which is based in a city in northern
Germany not far from the hometown of admitted hacker Sven Jaschan,
hired the 18-year-old to work on its products because "he has a
certain know-how in this field," a company spokesman said in a
statement.

The rehabilitation didn't go down well with Sophos, the U.K.-based
anti-virus vendor.

"It's very important that the security community does not send out a
message that writing viruses or worms is cool, or a route into
employment," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for
Sophos, in a statement.

Although Finnish security company F-Secure was kinder in its take on
Jaschan -- "he wasn't that bad," one of the company executives wrote
on the firm's blog -- it, too said the hire was out of line. "We here
at F-Secure wouldn't hire him."

There's a good chance Jaschan won't work long for Securepoint. The
teen will be tried on charges including computer sabotage that could
land him in jail for up to five years.

Coincidentally, a new variation of the Sasser worm, dubbed Sasser.g by
Sophos, appeared Monday. Like earlier editions, it exploits Windows
PCs not patched against the LSASS vulnerability, and opens them to
further attack by planting a backdoor component on compromised
machines.