The German teenager identified in May as the creator of the Sasser and Netsky worms was indicted and charged in court Wednesday, and may face as many as five years in jail for his escapades. . . .
The German teenager identified in May as the creator of the Sasser and Netsky worms was indicted and charged in court Wednesday, and may face as many as five years in jail for his escapades.

Sven Jaschan, 18, the hacker who was ratted out by friends eager to cash in on Microsoft's $250,000 reward, faces charges of computer sabotage, data manipulation, and disruption of public systems. The maximum prison sentence is five years.

According to the indictment, Jaschan first created the Netsky worm to delete two other worms -- MyDoom and Bagle, both of which are still prevalent on the Internet -- then moved on to build Sasser, a fast-striking network worm that took advantage of a vulnerability in Windows to infect thousands of unpatched PCs around the world.

By security firm Sophos' count, Jaschan's creations -- Netsky and Sasser -- accounted for over 70 percent of all infections in the first half of 2004.

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