Worm Suspect Said Just a Normal, Fun - Loving Teen

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Worm Suspect Said Just a Normal, Fun - Loving Teen
>
> August 30, 2003
>  By REUTERS
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Filed at 6:31 p.m. ET
>
> HOPKINS, Minn. (Reuters) - A friend of a Minnesota high
> school student charged with unleashing a new strain of the
> Blaster Internet worm that infected computers around the
> world described him on Saturday as ``just a kid'' who is
> likely innocent.
>
> Mike Heldt, who once worked with suspect Jeffrey Lee
> Parson, 18, at a local movie theater, told Reuters he and
> Parson like to shoot billiards, rent movies, play video
> games and ``just sit around and joke like other kids.''
>
> ``I don't think he's really a hacker,'' said Heldt, an
> 18-year-old who works the overnight shift at a local gas
> station and lives in the same working-class neighborhood as
> Parson. ``He's just a kid that got into something that's
> bigger than he is, that's all.''
>
> But computer security specialists, who are still searching
> for the creator of the worm, said altering a worm is not as
> hard as creating one.
>
> ``It was a very deliberate act,'' said Vincent Weafer,
> senior director of Symantec Security Response. ``But it
> wasn't complex. It doesn't take a huge amount of
> knowledge.''
>
> According to court documents, the 6-foot-4 (1.9-meter),
> 320-pound (145 kg) Parson has admitted creating a variant
> of the Blaster, a self-replicating worm that bores through
> a Windows security hole, harnessing computers to launch
> concerted data attacks via the Internet on a Microsoft
> Corp. technical service Web site.
>
> Microsoft, which says Blaster has caused millions of
> dollars of damage, helped authorities in the case.
>
> HOUSE ARREST
>
> Parson was arrested on Friday and charged
> with one count of intentionally causing or attempting to
> cause damage to a computer. He faces a maximum of 10 years
> in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
>
> ``This young man ... was very sophisticated in his
> understanding of computers,'' said U.S. Attorney Tom
> Heffelfinger of Minnesota.
>
> Hours after being charged, Parson, along with Heldt,
> watched the news at his home in Hopkins, a western suburb
> of Minneapolis, where he is under house arrest and required
> to wear an electronic monitoring device.
>
> A friend of Parson's mother was sympathetic.
>
> ``They're
> really nice people,'' said Maureen Carriveau, a neighbor of
> the Parson family. ``This has to be so heartbreaking. Every
> parent wants the best for their kids.''
>
> But some local residents were upset.
>
> ``It screws up
> everything,'' said Leanne Damke, who lives down the street
> from Parson. The 32-year-old mother of two says she had
> trouble getting medication from a pharmacy due to the worm.
>
>
> ``I think he wanted it to get out of hand,'' she added.
> ``When someone puts something like that on the computer,
> he's doing it on purpose.''
>
> Authorities have removed seven computers from the apartment
> where Parson lives with his family.
>
> At his appearance on Friday in U.S. Federal Court in St.
> Paul, Minnesota, Parson wore a faded gray T-shirt, cargo
> shorts and high-top sneakers. The judge banned him from
> using the Internet, surfing the World Wide Web or using
> messaging services.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-tech-internet-blaster.html?ex=1063283474&ei=1&en=5719b68b1879c1c9
>
>
> ----

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