14 DAY TRIAL // After all the damage he's done, the Minnesota teenager author of Blaster.B was sentenced to 18 months behind bars and 10 months of community work. Considering that the worm he created hit and disabled about 50,000 computers worldwide and that the damages that caused surpass $1.2 million, you could say the 19 year old kid got away easy.
However, the judge decided that because of the young man's family and physiological problems, he will go easy on Jeffrey Lee Parson, the worm culprit. The sentence will be carried out at a low-security prison. He just dodged a 10 year sentence plus a $250.000 fine, and all because it was thought that his parents were to blame for the problems that led Parson to his actions.
His attorneys said that the young man deared leaving his house and created his own imaginary world, to which the parents gave very little support. He pleaded guilty last summer to intentionally damaging or attempting to damage a protected computer. Jeffrey apologizes to the court and to Microsoft by admitting he has made a huge mistake and that he felt terrible for hurting so many people. He will still have to pay back Microsoft and his worms victims, but the amount of money he has to come up with hasn't been decided yet.