Sasser teen charged as 143 victims come forward

Sven Jaschan, the 18-year-old said to be behind two of the internet's most widespread viruses - Sasser and Netsky - is to be charged by the German police.

The teen, arrested earlier this year and thought to have been fingered to the police by one of his schoolmates in a return for a Microsoft bounty, is now facing charges of computer sabotage, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail in Germany, as well as data manipulation and disruption of public systems.

Despite recent fears that virus writers and spammers were teaming up for commercial gain, it seems Jaschan released Sasser to gain notoriety for his programming skills.

More than 140 plaintiffs claiming damages of over $150,000 will be confronting Jaschan over his virus writing exploits. However, it's thought the real figures could be a lot higher as the majority of victims don't tell the police. Larger businesses with a reputation to protect are often unwilling to admit they've been infected, but one estimate from Computer Economics put the figure as high as $500m.

Jaschan's malware made up 70 per cent of all infections in the first half of this year, according to antivirus firm Sophos. Written in the teenager's bedroom in a town in Saxony, Sasser caught out several big names, including British Airways, Goldman Sachs UK and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

A date has yet to be set for Jaschan's trial.