Hacker Gets 30 Months Prison Term for Infecting 72,000 PCs

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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.

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Wolfgang Gruener
49 Comments Comment from the forums
  • aftcomet
    Good. One less criminal bastard hiding behind a monitor.
    Reply
  • halcyon
    Seems appropriate.
    Reply
  • azraa
    Too bad guys like him go to prison.
    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.
    Reply
  • phonebook
    thats actually not bad. does he live in america? im pretty sure we would kill someone that did that.
    Reply
  • aftcomet
    azraaToo bad guys like him go to prison.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.
    You're right. He caused countless people all sorts of problems and was basically an online hitman for hire. What we should really do is give him a nice job in a high paying position. Maybe throw in some benefits too.
    Reply
  • castle songbird
    aftcometYou're right. He caused countless people all sorts of problems and was basically an online hitman for hire. What we should really do is give him a nice job in a high paying position. Maybe throw in some benefits too.
    "What is reading comprehension I'm new here" - you
    Reply
  • memadmax
    One of countless hackers out there.
    If you get hacked it's ur own damn fault...
    People live in their own dream world bubble sometimes, it pisses me off and needs to be popped...
    Reply
  • teh_chem
    memadmaxOne of countless hackers out there.If you get hacked it's ur own damn fault...People live in their own dream world bubble sometimes, it pisses me off and needs to be popped...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.
    Reply
  • lahawzel
    Meanwhile, pirating one song lands you with five years in jail if the RIAA finds out...

    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.
    Reply
  • Cut his fingers off so he can't use a keyboard again.
    Reply