The German teenager behind the Sasser worm finally goes on trial today.
Sven Jaschen, 19, has been charged with computer sabotage, disrupting public services and illegally altering data. Prosecutors listed in their indictment the cases of three city governments and a public broadcaster in Germany as organizations whose computer systems were disrupted by the worm.
As reported in SC Magazine in May, the trial will take place behind closed doors as the defendant is being tried as a juvenile. He is expected to escape the maximum sentence of five years because is his minor status. The trial in Verden, North-West Germany, is expected to last three days.
He was arrested in May last year after the worm had infected millions of computers worldwide and slowed internet traffic. One of Jaschen's friends had informed on him and after police searched his house, Jaschen admitted to creating the worm. Microsoft had put up a bounty of $250,000 and this is thought to have contributed to the tip-off.
Jaschen told officials his original intention was to create a virus that would combat the effects of the "Bagle" and Mydoom" viruses. This virus "Netsky.A" was later modified and became "Sasser".
Last week, it was reported that the number of computer viruses increased in the first half of 2005 while infection times have decreased, according to new research.
