MSBlast.B worm writer pleads guilty
WinNetMag | at | by Mike
The hapless Minneapolis teenager who unleashed the MSBlast.B variant of the MSBlaster worm pleaded guilty to the crime yesterday in the US District Court in Seattle. He'll be sentenced in November.
Jeffrey Lee Parson admitted that he created MSBlast.B last summer by adding a backdoor to MSBlaster. Federal prosecutors say that the backdoor, which gave Parson control of compromised computers, made the worm far more dangerous than its predecessor. "Sending out a computer worm may be viewed as a harmless prank," US Attorney John McKay said yesterday. "But the damage to individual computer users is very real, and the penalties are also very real."