Man pleads guilty to using worm "bots" to attack eBay
By Ruth Mantell
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Anthony Clark pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon in San Jose, Calif. federal court to launching a computer attack against the Internet auction site eBay (EBAY) in July and August 2003 with an army of infected computers he had amassed by using a computer worm program, federal prosecutors said. Clark, 21, of Beaverton, Ore., faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine or twice the gross gain or loss, and three years supervised release. A status hearing regarding sentencing is scheduled April 3. Clark admitted to using, with acomplices, 20,000 compromised computers, or "bots," to attack a single target, by using a worm program that took advantage of a vulnerability in the Windows operating system. Clark personally commanded the "bots" to launch attacks on eBay.com, prosecutors said. |
