A hacker received a 30 month in prison sentence for creating a botnet and a charge of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
30-year old Joshua Schichtel had pleaded guilty to building the 72,000 computer net in 2009 as a service to customers who would ask him to infect computers with various types of malware. Apparently, Schichtel accepted a $1,500 payment from a customer in one specific case.
Following the 30 month prison term, Schichtel will have to comply with a 3-year of supervised release order. Joshua Schichtel has been involved in a legal investigation before. He was included in a 2004 complaint in which he and others were accused of infecting thousands of users for the purpose of a Denial of Service attack.
The 2004 charges against the "DDoS Mafia" for hire were dismissed due to a passed indictment deadline.
Don't get me wrong, he deserves the time, but I mean that he has, evidently, some talent programming and detecting exploits. That is the kind of talent that software companies look. He just followed a coward's path.
That makes just as much sense as saying it's your own fault if you get robbed. It's not my fault if I get "hacked." There are measures you can take to try to prevent that, but it's the offender's fault--and hence their responsibility.
I'm all for punishing for knowingly aiding in the malicious attacks against computer users.
Law enforcement needs to spend their time tracking down actual malicious criminals like this guy. Not random guys who just want to listen to some free music.
That is not what he meant. What he meant was, the guy has talent and skill, but wasted it on criminal activities and scams. He could have been working at a legitimate company or even on his own doing legitimate work.
*Smashes your car's windshield, and steals your $20 bill that was lying on the dashboard.*
Yeah, IT'S YOUR FAULT FOR NOT INSTALLING UNBREAKABLE GLASS ON YOUR CAR, MORON!
(One of my uncles is a police officer, and he said that one of his buddies' police car's windshield was destroyed because of a $10 bill lying on the dashboard.)
Law enforcement needs to spend their time tracking down actual malicious criminals like this guy. Not random guys who just want to listen to some free music.
Don't get me wrong, he deserves the time, but I mean that he has, evidently, some talent programming and detecting exploits. That is the kind of talent that software companies look. He just followed a coward's path.