German Youth Convicted for Sasser Worm

dan dan the dna man writes "The BBC is reporting that Sven Jaschan, author of the Sasser Worm, has been found guilty of computer sabotage and illegally altering data. He received a 21 month suspended sentence, as he was tried as a minor. He was 17 years old when he wrote the worm." From the article: "Sven Jaschan avoided a jail sentence by the skin of his teeth because he was arrested within days of his 18th birthday...However, in the grand scheme of the virus world, it's the organised crime gangs, which are increasingly emerging to make stacks of money through targeted attacks, that should be dealt the harsh sentences - over and above the dumb teenagers."

Comments

Others should face liability also

[ravenspear]

What about Microsoft?

Shouldn't they face some consequence for writing such shitty code as the security nightmare that is Windows?

It's kind of funny really. In almost any company if a single coder could be found responsible for coding mistakes that cost the company millions of dollars, he would be fired and quite possibly sued. But when thousands of coders in a company collectively do the same thing, they get off without any responsibility for the effects of unleashing their horribly buggy code on the entire world.

seriously!

[chrisnewbie]

What is the difference in the intentions of a 17 years old on the dawn of his 18th birthday. Does the brain automaticaly switch to "responsable and aware of consequences" when he hits 18.
Of course kids that does violent crimes should be tried as adult (maybe not sent to an adult prison).

I mean seriously if a 13 year old kills another kid because he hated him or something like that, it's still a murder and the fact that he is a kid doesnt change how serious it is.

Kids have it too good these days, they know they can do what the f?&$?$ they want till they are 18 and the law protects them.

And it goes for kids doing harm in computers with worms or other viruses.

Italian isn't a race

[HBI]

Stop being a fucking asshole.

Must be genetic in your case.

To sum up:

[gillbates]

• Kid writes a worm because he's too dumb to know any better, and:
• Microsoft's ignorance of security allows such worm to cause millions of dollars in damages.

So who is really responsible for the damages? Is is the kid who didn't know any better, or is it Microsoft who chose to sell insecure software.

I understand the fact that he exploited an insecure operating system. However, there will always be juveniles in the world, and to sell a mass-market operating system with full knowledge that it can be compromised by an 18 year old with a modicum of intelligence is criminally negligent. Granted, this 18 year old wrote the Sasser worm, but without Microsoft's deliberate negligence regarding security, it would have been merely an academic curiosity or petty nuisance.