A 22-year-old, who admitted creating three computer viruses that
infected 27,000 PCs in 42 countries, has been sentenced at London's
Southwark Crown Court to two years imprisonment, under the UK's
Computer Misuse Act 1990.
Web designer Simon Vallor of Llandudno, North Wales, pleaded guilty in December to three charges that he created the 'Gokar', 'Redesi', and 'Admirer' mass mailing viruses in 2001 and distributed them on the internet on or before 14th February last year. Vallor was caught after he boasted about his activities on internet chatrooms.
The three viruses were distributed as e-mails that, if opened, could corrupt PCs' hard drives and destroy data. The viruses were programmed to automatically send themselves to everyone listed in the user's e-mail address book.
Redesi, considered the most destructive of the three viruses, was disguised as a technical support e-mail from Microsoft. When opened, the malicious code was executed and overwrote victims' company web sites.
On Tuesday, Vallor was sentenced to two years imprisonment for each of the three offences, to run concurrently. In its decision, the London Crown Court said that the sentence would act as a deterrent to others.
Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC pointed out the serious nature of the crime, saying that individuals committing such offences are "criminals who are difficult to detect" and not just "nerds sitting alone in their bedrooms obsessed with their computers."
