Romanian-virus-author-faces-trial-64

Virus researchers double as police workers - first case nearing conviction

Dan Dumitru Ciobanu, author of an MSBlast virus variant, goes on trial in the Iasi county Court of Appeals. The 26-year old is accused of having created a computer virus variant which spread over the intranet of the "Gh. Asachi" Technical University, in September 2003.

BitDefender virus researchers were instrumental in the police's efforts to identify Ciobanu. "We acted only by request of the Romanian authorities" said Mihai Radu, Communication Manager at BitDefender, SOFTWIN. "Young people playing at virus writing should keep in mind that computer viruses are not games. When unleashing a computer virus, the author places property and people at risk", Radu concluded. Although the virus only affected 27 computers, the youth is facing between three and fifteen years in jail for "unlawful possession of a program and disturbing a computer system".

In a similar case, Jeffrey Lee Parson, 18, is charged with creating another variant of the same virus and faces up to ten years imprisonment and/or fines up to 250.000$.

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