14 DAY TRIAL // On Monday, Jeanson James Ancheta, a hacker of only 20 years old, pleaded guilty for the accusations regarding hijacking hundreds of thousands of computers to damage systems and send massive waves of spam all over the Internet.
Ancheta was a well-known member of an underground network, called "Botmaster Underground" and he was arrested in November, last year, this case being the first of its kind.
The 20-year-old pleads guilty to the charges of conspiracy, fraud, and damaging computers used by the US government, and he will stand trial later this year on a 17 count indictment.
The maximum sentence that Ancheta can face in this matter is a maximum 25 years time in prison, although prosecutors recommend between 5 and 7 years.
The distinctiveness of this singular case is explained by the fact that Ancheta sold out to other hackers the access to infected computers, so they can install adware soft.
The attacked computers are located at the Weapons Division of the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, California, and at the U.S. Department of Defense.
In his plea, Ancheta admitted that he used computers servers he controlled to transmit malicious code over the Internet, scanning for the vulnerable computers, which he then controlled and used them as "zombie" machines.
In the same speech, he agreed to pay some $15,000 in restitution to the military facilities and the rest of the money obtained from illegal activities, including more that $ 60.000 in cash, his hardware equipment and a BMW automobile.