Forwarded from: William Knowles <wk@private> http://www.startribune.com/stories/789/4630324.html Randy Furst Star Tribune February 26, 2004 The Hopkins student accused of infecting computers last summer with a version of a worm that attacked Microsoft computers has said that he launched attacks against other companies, including the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America, according to court documents. Federal prosecutors also said Jeffrey Parson, 18, admitted he that gained access to a group of computers on which he stored pirated software movies, games and music, besides using those computers to launch attacks. The documents filed by prosecutors in U.S. District Court in Seattle, where Parson is scheduled to go on trial in May, claim that he had a "long history of causing damage over the Internet." The government alleged that "the admissions are confirmed by evidence (including Internet chat logs) found on various seized computers, including his own." Prosecutors also accused Parson of causing a "back door" to be installed in about 1,200 computers, which allowed him "unfettered access" to download information including credit card numbers, medical or other personal records. The documents do not say he downloaded the data. "We don't have any comments on this case at this point," said Nancy Penney, a federal public defender representing Parson. The allegations were contained in unsealed documents that had been filed earlier, but were also attached to documents that had been sealed. U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman of Seattle ordered them opened Tuesday. Pechman issued her order after three news organizations - The Star Tribune, the Seattle Times, and the Associated Press - asked that the documents be opened. The sealed papers included a request by Parson's attorneys to move his trial to the Twin Cities and the prosecutors' opposition to the request. Pechman had denied the motion for a change of venue, then sealed her denial. Pechman opened all those documents, but ordered small portions blacked out. Pechman also left sealed details from the defense on Parson's parents' finances. "This was the right result, but it took too long and it shouldn't have been required in the first place," said Seattle attorney Michele Earl-Hubbard, who represented the media groups. Parson was arrested in August, accused of having sent a worm that infected about 7,000 computers. Randy Furst is at rfurst@private *==============================================================* "Communications without intelligence is noise; Intelligence without communications is irrelevant." Gen Alfred. M. Gray, USMC ---------------------------------------------------------------- C4I.org - Computer Security, & Intelligence - http://www.c4i.org ================================================================ Help C4I.org with a donation: http://www.c4i.org/contribute.html *==============================================================* - ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org To unsubscribe email majordomo@private with 'unsubscribe isn' in the BODY of the mail.
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