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German Youth Convicted for Sasser Worm

Posted by Zonk on from the swift-german-justice dept.

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."

10 of 421 comments (clear)

  1. more appropriate punishment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't lock him up, don't curtail his computer usage.

    Just force him to use AOL for the next 5 years.

  2. Dumb Kid, Sure by DanielMarkham · · Score: 5, Insightful
    But his "prank" costs tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars. FTA,
    ...allegedly wrecked Delta Airlines' systems in Atlanta for seven hours, leading to the cancellation of 40 flights. Around the world, the Australian Railcorp trains stopped running because computer problems caused by Sasser made it impossible for drivers to talk to signalmen. In Taiwan, more than 400 branches of the post office were forced to use pen and paper because Sasser crashed desktop computers...
    In the USA, we're already seeing a big push to try juveniles as adults in violent crime cases. The damage caused by this worm was serious business -- its not too hard to extrapolate people one day losing their lives because of worms like this.
    Being a dumb teenager is one thing. Causing world disruption is something else entirely (Yes. I know. The victims bear some responsibility)
    People take the computer too lightly, like it was a TV set or something. It's more like a small nuclear bomb in each home, great for powering the house, but not so much something you want the kids mucking around with unsupervised. If you are one of those who think gun control stops gun crime, wait 20 years or so until people start advocating "computer control" to stop cyber crime. You'll have a blast with that one.

    WTF? How About CSS Implementation?
    1. Re:Dumb Kid, Sure by dasunt · · Score: 5, Insightful

      We don't (usually) try kids as adults because we understand that children tend to have a more limited judgement than adults. Admittedly, there is a lot of problems with this.

      However, arguing that the punishment should be increased due to the severity of the crime is somewhat faulty logic. If a child runs into the interstate and ends up causing an accident that kills 20 people, we don't charge the child with 20 cases of manslaughter.

      That's the problem with having limited judgement: You don't really grasp the consequences of your actions.

      (Now if you want to argue that the kid's understanding of the crime was about the same as an adult's understanding of the crime, and thus he should be tried as an adult, that could be a valid argument.)

  3. Parent is wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The virus was released ON his 18th birthday (April 29, 2004). He was tried as a minor because the german courts determined that he created the virus before he was 18. He wasn't arrested days before his 18th birthday as the parent says.

  4. Skin of his teeth by Hank+Chinaski · · Score: 5, Informative

    It wasnt even this close, because in Germany the youth criminal law is applicable to persons up to the age of 21, depending on how "adult" they behave and live. E.g. Living in your own apartement and having a job will probably get you treated as an adult. For his case the social projections are quite good, because he now lives a stable life with a regular job and a girlfriend.

    --
    IAAL
  5. Justice by Malicious · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Create a Worm, cripple thousands of businesses, get convicted, no monitary fine, get a 2 year Jail sentence and 30 Hours of Community service, do not pass go. Do not collect $200.
    Steal a Movie, get fined Thousands of dollars, go to Jail for dozens of years, never expect to use a computer or have any rights or freedoms again.

    Amazing.

    --
    01101001001000000110000101101101001000000110001001 10000101110100011011010110000101101110
  6. *ducks* by jZnat · · Score: 5, Funny

    I guess he wasn't able to worm his way out of this one.

    --
    'Yes, firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'
  7. Creating vs. releasing by quentin_quayle · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I second the question - is it illegal in Germany to write a worm or virus? Or only to release it?

    Same questions regarding the USA ... ?

    In all the news reports and discussion of these cases, references to "writing" or "creating", and to releasing or spreading, are used interchangeably. It seems to me there is a big ethical difference and there ought to be a legal difference as well.

    Consider the following series - at what point does the actor go wrong (a) ethically (b) legally?

    1. Plan a worm, virus or other exploit
    2. Write code
    3. Compile and test it locally
    4. Explain to others how to write one
    5. Share source with friends or colleagues (a) for research/ POC? (b) for them to use any way they want? (c) with malicious intent?
    6. Make binary available passively, others have to request it, as on a web page, with notice (not forced on anyone)
    7. Someone other than the creator spreads it "in the wild"
    8. Creator knowingly infects others
    1. Re:Creating vs. releasing by dknj · · Score: 5, Funny

      simple, just release your virus with an EULA. if you use it, the creator assumes no responsibility. if the creator goes to jail, it means EULA's fail and thus hell will freeze over, the earth will start spinning backwards, and mass anarchy will take over the world.

  8. a crime is still a crime by DirtyFly · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Im getting tired of listening to all that 'you dont patch is your fault' , 'you use microsoft is your fault the system is attacked'.
    c'mon, if i leave my mobile in the car and it gets stolen, that is my fault ? NO IT IS NOT, i was dumb to leave it there because of the lack of security in the streets but I AM NOT the criminal neither is the car company that makes glasses that can be broken, either way you put it the burgler is the criminal here.
    the kid is a criminal and should be dealt with acordingly, it is true that microsoft has bugs and flaws but the attack was mallicious, lets put it other therms, an old man walks with a cane and can not run , a juvenile kicks his ass and steals his wallet , is the old mans fault that he got burglered ? This is the same situation in many companies, they have a deficiency (unsecure OS) but they must live with it and must be left alone living with it.
    Make no mistake the kid is no robin wood he did the worm just for spite , people should be hold accountable for what they do no matter what

    Jorge Canelhas

    http://www.retroreview.com/ - Retro Computing for all