A Minnesota high school senior pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to unleashing a variant of the “Blaster” Internet worm, which crippled more than a million computers last summer.
Jeffrey Lee Parson, 19, of Hopkins, Minn., is likely to face 18 months to 3 years behind bars after pleading guilty to one count of intentionally causing or attempting to cause damage to a protected computer. He also could be ordered to pay millions of dollars in restitution.
Parson had pleaded not guilty after his arrest last August but told U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman on Wednesday, “I downloaded the original Blaster worm, modified it and sent it back out on the Internet.”
His variant launched a denial-of-service attack against a Microsoft Corp. Windows update Web site as well as personal computers. Parson was charged in Seattle because Microsoft is based in suburban Redmond.
