[ISN] Juvenile sentenced in Microsoft attack

[InfoSec News]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002178457_blaster12m.html

By Maureen O'Hagan
Seattle Times staff reporter
February 12, 2005 

A juvenile was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court to probation
and community service in connection with a computer worm attack on
Microsoft's main Web site.

The juvenile admitted releasing a worm — known as the RPCSDBOT — in
August 2003 and then directing infected computers to attack the
Microsoft site. The site was shut down for about four hours.

The U.S. Attorney's Office, which prosecuted the case, said federal
law prevents it from releasing details about the juvenile, even the
defendant's gender. It did say the juvenile was 14 when the crime
occurred.

The cyberattack occurred around the same time as another worm attack
on Microsoft's Web site. In that case, Jeffrey Lee Parson, created a
variant of the Blaster worm that infected about 1,200 Internet
addresses. Parson, 19, a Minnesota resident, was sentenced last month
to 1½ years in prison.

Initially, authorities wondered whether the two attacks were related,
but they were not.

At the juvenile's sentencing yesterday, the juvenile said, "Seventeen
months ago, I made the worst mistake I ever made in my life. I did it
out of curiosity and did not think I would cause any damage. I am
sorry I created problems for people I did not even know."

Judge Robert Lasnik took the juvenile's contrition to heart and
replied, "You know what you did was wrong, and you aren't going to do
it again."

Lasnik sentenced the teen to three years of probation and required the
teen to undergo mental-health counseling and perform 300 hours of
community service.

The judge also required the juvenile to update him by letter every six
months, describing the community-service activities and how the
experience has affected the juvenile.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said yesterday that the investigation of
the Blaster worm is continuing.