Author
Sasser was at first believed to have been authored in Russia by the same person(s) who created another worm usually referred to as Lovsan, MSBlast, or Blaster (due to the media), a connection indicated by code similarities between the two, but on 7 May 2004, 18-year old German computer science student Sven Jaschan from Rotenburg, Lower Saxony was arrested for writing the worm. German authorities were led to Jaschan partly because of information obtained in response to a bounty offer by Microsoft of US$250,000.
One of Jaschan's friends had informed Microsoft that his friend had created the worm. He further revealed that not only Sasser, but also Netsky.AC, a variant of the Netsky worm, was his creation. Another variation of Sasser, Sasser.E, was found to be circulating shortly after the arrest. It was the only variation that attempted to remove other worms from the infected computer, much in the way Netsky does.
Jaschan was tried as a minor because the German courts determined that he created the worm before he was 18. The worm itself had been released on his 18th birthday (29 April 2004). Sven Jaschan was found guilty of computer sabotage and illegally altering data. On Friday, 8 July 2005, he received a 21 month suspended sentence.
Read more about this topic: Sasser (computer Worm)
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