So what should be...

[Moonbiter]

... the punishment for THIS?


It should probably be covered under the new anti-terrorist laws, but will probably earn the little turd a hefty paycheck and a job doing research on electronic warfare...

[Xandax]

I have no respect for such people at all.
They should be locked up and the key thrown away.

Computer vira is a dangerous and highly damaging problem in the computerworld - and I wouldn't mind seeing people like this tried with some (electronic) terrorist attack.

[Moonbiter]

I completely agree, but that rarely happens. They generally get a small-ish rap on the fingers and then a high paid job in research and defence. A bit like the German scientists after WW2.

[Xandax]

Well - with the increased focus on vira since "I Love You" and "Melissa", I think we will start to see more severe penalties for such people.
Also the effects of a virus are much worse these days. Before the widespread of the Internet, most computers that got infected did so and couldn't spread the virus easily. Nowadays most everybody is connected to the Internet, thus the vira start affecting an increasing number of people and institutions/corporations.

In the older days it was generally good programmers that could make a virus - which were why some of them got good jobs as heads of security for major corporations or what not.
Now a days, you can copy the source code of almost any program from the Internet, if you know where to look - including vira source code so it is easy (easier) to find holes in software to exploit, or just take another virus source code and modify it slightly.
It dosen't take a smart geek to make vira anymore - almost everybody with knowlegde of computers can do it.


I hope they hit these guys hard.

Btw - on related news, I hear they have accused another german with the creation of the Agobot and Phatbot vira.
Seems german police is having a field-day

[Moonbiter]

Cool! The funny thing is every computer hacker is running scared because of the short time it took the FBI and Interpol to come down on this sucker. BTW: The guy who made ILoveYOU is now working for Microsoft and a free man, from what I hear.

[Xandax]

Haven't heard or read anything to indicate that the guy responsible for "I Love You" should be working for Microsoft, so if you have any links I'd be interested.

[Moonbiter]

I'll try to find them. I remember reading about the puzzlement over the lack of a public trial after he was arrested in an internet caffe in Bankok or Manilla or somesuch, and then I forgot all about it. I only remembered it now.

[RandomThug]

HANG EM! HANG EM ALL! Those bastards make my job harder than it should be...

[Therion]

Honestly, it is much less of a crime than any murder or the like.

Of course for the economical damage the guy should be put in jail for some time (what.. 7 years? I have no idea.), and after that time.. well, the police knows him now. Besides, media will be on him when he gets out, and I doubt he will want to go to jail again, so it's unlikely he'll ever do something like that again.

[Moonbiter]

That's a good one. Imagine if one of these suckers caused a 747 to fall out of the sky, or a surgical procedure to go wrong, 7 years? Get a grip.

[Xandax]

Quote:

Originally posted by Therion Honestly, it is much less of a crime than any murder or the like. <snip>

It is hard to say that it is less a crime then for instance murder, because they are so different in scope.

The sasser worm infected and caused problems for medical equipment at hospitals, which could have proven fatal for some patients. So what is the difference there?
Also the scope of visious computer vira can affect many many more people then a single targeted murder.

The only reason that the comparison "less then a murder" is because nobody actually died from it ... yet. But as our world becomes increasingly more electronic and computerised, we fall ever more victim to such induviduals, and the effects from computer vira will become much more severe.

Personally - I think computer vira is a very dangerous crime.
It is premeditated, it targets many innocent people, and it can have severe effects on many aspects of the society.

[Therion]

Quote:

Originally posted by Xandax It is hard to say that it is less a crime then for instance murder, because they are so different in scope. The sasser worm infected and caused problems for medical equipment at hospitals, which could have proven fatal for some patients. So what is the difference there? Also the scope of visious computer vira can affect many many more people then a single targeted murder. The only reason that the comparison "less then a murder" is because nobody actually died from it ... yet. But as our world becomes increasingly more electronic and computerised, we fall ever more victim to such induviduals, and the effects from computer vira will become much more severe. Personally - I think computer vira is a very dangerous crime. It is premeditated, it targets many innocent people, and it can have severe effects on many aspects of the society.

Yeah.. you're right. Didn't think of that. Okay.. so then what?

[RandomThug]

Like I said, go get a noose.

It's large scale attacks on business's across the globe, it's in a sense "Terrorism" in the light of our new day. They create something harmful and distribute it without care, infecting without discrimination. Business's across the globe are affected and the possibilities of damage and life threatning grow each year our networks get more connected. Imagine someone going from office building to office building cutting your lights, disabling your network... taking the batteries out of your remote.

It should be punishable based upon how far and wide the virus spread, the estimated damage and potential danger to human life. Attempted manslaughter if hospital equipment fails and hundreds and hundreds of counts of business fruad? or i dont know the right term. I know that kid cost my job a good couple hours or days of my work. They should bill him.