Plea deal in US 'spybot' computer crime case
LOS ANGELES (AFP) — A hacker from a "botnet underground" group that infected nearly a quarter-million computers with spy software is pleading guilty to criminal charges, US prosecutors said Friday.
John Schiefer agreed to plead guilty to fraud and illegal wiretap charges carrying a maximum sentence of 60 years in federal prison and a 1.75 million dollar fine, according to Thom Mrozek of the US Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.
Schiefer and accomplices spread "spybot" computer code that took over people's machines, turning them into "zombies" manipulated from elsewhere without owners knowing, according to Mrozek.
The invading software let Schiefer and his accomplices intercept electronic communications and extract information from supposedly secure storage areas in computers with Microsoft operating systems, according to court documents.
The stolen data was mined for PayPal online financial service accounts and passwords, which were then used to buy things on the Internet using other people's identities, Mrozek said.
Schiefer also admits in the plea deal to defrauding a Dutch Internet advertising firm by slipping its software onto approximately 150,000 computers as self-propagating malicious code.
The firm had hired Schiefer for more than 19,000 dollars to install the programs on people's computers, but only after first obtaining their permission, Mrozek said.
The 26-year-old Los Angeles man is not in custody and is to make his first court appearance in the case later this month.
