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CNN Saturday Morning News
Police Arrest Suspected Author of Blaster
Aired August 30, 2003 - 07:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: One version of that malicious computer worm known as Blaster has been traced to a teenager. Police arrested an 18-year-old Minnesota high schooler, charging him with crimes that could land him in jail for the next decade.
For a look at this high profile catch by federal investigators, we'll check in now with our technology correspondent, Daniel Sieberg -- Daniel, good morning.
And I guess they've been trying to catch this guy for a brief period of time and now they've landed him.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, exactly, Thomas.
They have been trying to catch him for at least a couple of weeks. And when Jeffrey Lee Parson wakes up today, if he hasn't already woken up, he will be under house arrest and electronic monitoring. He is accused of creating a variant of the Blaster worm that has been circulating on the Internet and doing some substantial damage.
You're seeing a picture of him now. He's an imposing figure at 6'4," 320 pounds. He is 18 years old from a suburb of Minneapolis called Hopkins. And he is accused, again, of putting this variant, taking the original code of the Blaster worm and modifying it in some way, changing it and making it a little bit more dangerous, a little more destructive, as it was going around on the Internet.
Part of the code was a way for him to track down the people who were infected on their computer and it led them back to his Web site. That was part of the way that investigators were able to track him down through his Web site. As well, they talked to some people who knew him and the person who hosted his Web site as a way to get back to him.
So they will certainly be pursuing this case and he does face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, as well -- Thomas.
ROBERTS: And so, Daniel, just to explain, he is not the originator of this Blaster. He took something and kind of modified it to make it his own. So is he going to be a source for them to get to the original creator?
SIEBERG: Certainly that's a possibility. They could be going through him to try and find someone else who's involved with this. There's been no word about any further arrests in this case, although there certainly could be. But, you know, investigators and Microsoft will be using Parson as an example. They're trying to send a message out there to all the cyber attackers and hackers on the Internet, saying you cannot hide in the anonymity of the Internet, that we will try and find you, even though it is increasingly difficult for them to do that.
A lot of these hackers or cyber attackers out there go to great lengths to cover up their tracks, destroying evidence and making it very difficult for them to be found.
ROBERTS: And, Daniel, also for a lot of these hackers out there, I guess there's some, you know, cachet to being the person that comes up with this and then they get a name for themselves within the hacking community. Because what other reason is there to do this?
SIEBERG: Well, that's a really good point, Thomas. And a lot of the hackers that are out there say they do it for notoriety. They also do it just because they can. There's any number of reasons why they do it. In some cases it is malicious, to steal information or to do something more damaging and more destructive.
And so in this case I don't know if he was quite aware of the trouble that he would be getting into and what he could be facing in the future. So, again, it's -- they're certainly trying to send a message to anyone else out there who's responsible, because, in a sense, this has become, dare I say, the summer of worms? There are a few others out there that are circulating right now beyond just Blaster and this variant of Blaster. There is the Welchia (ph) worm, which is a so-called good worm. This one actually closes the hole that's out there. And there is the Sobig-F, which is considered to be one of the fastest spreading viruses on the Internet.
So a number of worms still to be investigated out there, and they'll be hoping to maybe catch someone else. But in this case, they're hoping it's at least one that they've caught -- Thomas.
ROBERTS: Well, for other potential hackers out there, knowing that this 18-year-old may face 10 years behind bars certainly could act as a deterrent.
Daniel Sieberg, thanks very much for the information on that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 30, 2003 - 07:47 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THOMAS ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: One version of that malicious computer worm known as Blaster has been traced to a teenager. Police arrested an 18-year-old Minnesota high schooler, charging him with crimes that could land him in jail for the next decade.
For a look at this high profile catch by federal investigators, we'll check in now with our technology correspondent, Daniel Sieberg -- Daniel, good morning.
And I guess they've been trying to catch this guy for a brief period of time and now they've landed him.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, exactly, Thomas.
They have been trying to catch him for at least a couple of weeks. And when Jeffrey Lee Parson wakes up today, if he hasn't already woken up, he will be under house arrest and electronic monitoring. He is accused of creating a variant of the Blaster worm that has been circulating on the Internet and doing some substantial damage.
You're seeing a picture of him now. He's an imposing figure at 6'4," 320 pounds. He is 18 years old from a suburb of Minneapolis called Hopkins. And he is accused, again, of putting this variant, taking the original code of the Blaster worm and modifying it in some way, changing it and making it a little bit more dangerous, a little more destructive, as it was going around on the Internet.
Part of the code was a way for him to track down the people who were infected on their computer and it led them back to his Web site. That was part of the way that investigators were able to track him down through his Web site. As well, they talked to some people who knew him and the person who hosted his Web site as a way to get back to him.
So they will certainly be pursuing this case and he does face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, as well -- Thomas.
ROBERTS: And so, Daniel, just to explain, he is not the originator of this Blaster. He took something and kind of modified it to make it his own. So is he going to be a source for them to get to the original creator?
SIEBERG: Certainly that's a possibility. They could be going through him to try and find someone else who's involved with this. There's been no word about any further arrests in this case, although there certainly could be. But, you know, investigators and Microsoft will be using Parson as an example. They're trying to send a message out there to all the cyber attackers and hackers on the Internet, saying you cannot hide in the anonymity of the Internet, that we will try and find you, even though it is increasingly difficult for them to do that.
A lot of these hackers or cyber attackers out there go to great lengths to cover up their tracks, destroying evidence and making it very difficult for them to be found.
ROBERTS: And, Daniel, also for a lot of these hackers out there, I guess there's some, you know, cachet to being the person that comes up with this and then they get a name for themselves within the hacking community. Because what other reason is there to do this?
SIEBERG: Well, that's a really good point, Thomas. And a lot of the hackers that are out there say they do it for notoriety. They also do it just because they can. There's any number of reasons why they do it. In some cases it is malicious, to steal information or to do something more damaging and more destructive.
And so in this case I don't know if he was quite aware of the trouble that he would be getting into and what he could be facing in the future. So, again, it's -- they're certainly trying to send a message to anyone else out there who's responsible, because, in a sense, this has become, dare I say, the summer of worms? There are a few others out there that are circulating right now beyond just Blaster and this variant of Blaster. There is the Welchia (ph) worm, which is a so-called good worm. This one actually closes the hole that's out there. And there is the Sobig-F, which is considered to be one of the fastest spreading viruses on the Internet.
So a number of worms still to be investigated out there, and they'll be hoping to maybe catch someone else. But in this case, they're hoping it's at least one that they've caught -- Thomas.
ROBERTS: Well, for other potential hackers out there, knowing that this 18-year-old may face 10 years behind bars certainly could act as a deterrent.
Daniel Sieberg, thanks very much for the information on that.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
