ye Day of Judgment (1 May 2006) approacheth

This little boy just pleaded guilty, and The Judge will sentence him on May 1, at which time the little creep faces up to 25 years in prison.

I don't think The Death Penalty is on the table, but if it is, you might want to send The Judge an e-mail to Express Your Feelings.

The USA doesn't use the Sharia system of justice, but if this CyberTodd had pulled this stunt in a Sharia country, perhaps the Judge might sentence him to have three or four of his fingers removed. But the USA Constitution specifically forbids "cruel and unusual" forms of punishment.

Tempting though they may be in certain cases.

Note particularly that this pimply little dickhead hacked into and sodomized computers belonging to the US Department of Defense, including computers at the US Navy's "Top Gun" fighter jet training center.

Smooth move, Ex-Lax.

Actually, in my Fantasie of ye Day of Judgment, I want The Judge (a computer user whose computer was violated by some nasty downloaded worm) to lean over the bench, look down on this miserable piece of Nerd Scum, and say:

"You may never put your fingers on the keyboard of a computer for the rest of your life. If you are ever caught touching a computer again, you will go immediately to a maximum security federal prison for the rest of your pathetic, miserable, insignificant, worthless life."

=============

Click here
(open in new window)
to sing along.

from "The Mikado"
(1885)
by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan

Mikado:

My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time --
To let the punishment fit the crime
The punishment fit the crime

And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!

All prosy dull society sinners,
Who chatter and bleat and bore,
Are sent to hear sermons
From mystical Germans
Who preach from ten till four.

The amateur tenor, whose vocal villainies
All desire to shirk,
Shall, during off-hours,
Exhibit his powers
To Madame Tussaud's waxwork.

The lady who dyes a chemical yellow
Or stains her grey hair puce,
Or pinches her figure,
Is painted with vigour
And permanent walnut juice.

The idiot who, in railway carriages,
Scribbles on window-panes,
We only suffer
To ride on a buffer
In Parliamentary trains.

My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time --
To let the punishment fit the crime
The punishment fit the crime

And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!

Chorus:

His object all sublime
He will achieve in time --
To let the punishment fit the crime
The punishment fit the crime

Mikado:

And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!

The advertising quack who wearies
With tales of countless cures,
His teeth, I've enacted,
Shall all be extracted
By terrified amateurs.

The music-hall singer attends a series
Of masses and fugues and "ops"
By Bach, interwoven
With Spohr and Beethoven,
At classical Monday Pops

The billiard sharp who any one catches,
His doom's extremely hard --
He's made to dwell
In a dungeon cell
On a spot that's always barred.

And there he plays extravagant matches
In fitless finger-stalls
On a cloth untrue
With a twisted cue
And elliptical billiard balls!

My object all sublime
I shall achieve in time --
To let the punishment fit the crime
The punishment fit the crime

And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!

Chorus:

His object all sublime
He will achieve in time --
To let the punishment fit the crime
The punishment fit the crime

And make each prisoner pent
Unwillingly represent
A source of innocent merriment!
Of innocent merriment!

========================

Tuesday 24 January 2006

Botnet Operator Pleads
Guilty to Internet Crimes

by Jay Wrolstad

"Obtaining a guilty plea is a positive step in combating a growing problem -- hijacking thousands of computers for personal gain," said Yankee Group senior analyst Andrew Jaquith. "The case validates what we have seen as the criminalization of the Windows platform, and it is especially dangerous because the exploit was used for a profit motive."

A California man on Monday pleaded guilty to federal charges related to his assembly of a botnet consisting of hundreds of thousands of computers to spread spam and malicious software, and of profiting from the zombie machines through the unauthorized distribution of adware.

Jeanson James Ancheta, 20, of Downey, California, was indicted in November on two separate conspiracies, as well as on charges of attempting to cause damage to protected computers, causing damage to computers used by the federal government in national defense, and accessing protected computers to commit fraud and money-laundering.

The U.S. Attorney's office alleged that Ancheta wrote malicious computer code, used that code to assemble botnets, and sold access to the infected Windows PCs for the purpose of launching distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and sending spam.

According to the indictment, Ancheta modified and disseminated the Trojan horse program "rxbot," which enabled him to create botnets, each consisting of thousands of Internet-connected computers reporting to an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel that Ancheta controlled. In a separate IRC channel, Ancheta advertised the sale of his botnets.

Among the systems affected by the botnets were computers at the Weapons Division of the United States Naval Air Warfare Center, as well as machines operated by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Profit Motive

On Monday, the "botmaster" admitted using computer servers Relevant Products/Services from Microsoft he controlled to transmit malicious code over the Internet to scan for and exploit vulnerable computers. Ancheta caused thousands of the compromised computers to be directed to a channel in IRC, which he controlled, to scan for other computers vulnerable to similar infection.

He further admitted that, in more than 30 separate transactions, he earned approximately $3,000 by selling access to his botnets to other computer users for the purpose of launching denial-of-service attacks and sending spam.

In relation to the computer fraud count, Ancheta admitted generating some $60,000 in advertising affiliate proceeds by directing more than 400,000 infected computers that were part of his botnet armies to other computer servers he controlled where adware he had modified would surreptitiously download onto the zombie PCs.

Ancheta was an affiliate of several adware companies, which paid him a commission that was based on the number of installations.

Positive Step

The case follows the October arrests of three individuals in the Netherlands accused of operating a botnet of 1.5 million infected PCs worldwide, and of using this network to steal personal information and launch a denial-of-service attack against a U.S. adware firm in an effort to extort money from the company.

"Obtaining a guilty plea is a positive step in combating a growing problem -- hijacking thousands of computers for personal gain," said Yankee Group senior analyst Andrew Jaquith. "The case validates what we have seen as the criminalization of the Windows platform, and it is especially dangerous because the exploit was used for a profit motive."

The guilty plea also shows how the adware and spyware applications can be turned into money-making machines, said Jaquith. He also noted that new viruses are increasingly being distributed by botnets, which can use thousands of computers to spread malware and spam.

"To their credit, the prosecutors in this case did a thorough job in collecting evidence and employed better surveillance methods to track down this individual," Jacquith said. "But for every guilty plea or conviction there are ten botnet operators who don't get caught."

In addition to his guilty pleas, Ancheta agreed to pay $15,000 in restitution to the Weapons Division of the United States Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake and the Defense Information Systems Agency, whose national defense networks were intentionally damaged by Ancheta's malicious code. He also forfeited all of the proceeds from his illegal activity, including $60,000 in cash, a BMW car, and computer equipment.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 1, at which time Ancheta faces up to 25 years in prison.

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