Arizona man gets 30-months in prison after infecting 72,000 computers

A man from Arizona has been handed a prison sentence that amounts to 30 months after infecting up to an estimated 72,000 computers, and this is a byproduct of using botnets and selling access to them to a willing buyer. Joshua Schichtel is said to be connected to a ring of hackers known as DDOS Mafia who relied on denial-of-service (DOS) attacks that targeted businesses on behalf of a business owner. Charges were filed in 2004 in California, but those failed to stick because the prosecutors there failed to file an indictment by the required deadline.

Still, the long arm of the law has finally caught up to Joshua’s antics, where he pleaded guilty on August 17th last year in Washington, D.C., to one count of attempting to cause damage to multiple computers without prior authorization via the transmission of programs, codes or commands, which is classified as a violation of the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. He was paid $1,500 for his criminal act, making that average out to around $50 amounting to one month in prison as “payment” for his crime.