Minnesota teen pleads guilty to unleashing Blaster variant

A Minnesota high school senior pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to unleashing a variant of the "Blaster" Internet worm, which crippled more than a million computers last summer.

Jeffrey Lee Parson, 19, of Hopkins, Minn., is likely to face 18 months to three years behind bars after pleading guilty to one count of intentionally causing or attempting to cause damage to a protected computer. He also could be ordered to pay millions of dollars in restitution, Assistant U.S. Attorney Annette Hayes said.

Parson had pleaded not guilty after his arrest last August, but told U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman on Wednesday: "I downloaded the original Blaster worm, modified it and sent it back out on the Internet."

Different versions of the Blaster worm, also known as the LovSan virus, crippled computer networks worldwide last summer. Parson's variant launched a distributed denial-of-service attack against a Microsoft Corp. Windows update Web site as well as personal computers. The government estimates Parson's version alone inundated more than 48,000 computers.

Parson was charged here last August because Microsoft is based in suburban Redmond.

"We appreciate the fact that the defendant has accepted responsibility for the crime he committed," Microsoft deputy general counsel Nancy Anderson said.

Parson is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 2; prosecutors have recommended 18 to 37 months behind bars. He had faced a maximum penalty of 10 years and a $250,000 fine.

One of Parson's lawyers, Carol Koller, said Parson was young when he committed the attacks and that being arrested made him realize the seriousness of his crime. "He has not touched a computer since the day of his arrest," she said.