Virus suspect trial delayed

Suspected virus writer Sven Jaschan has been told he must wait until next year to discover his fate, with his trial in Germany being postponed until January 2005.

Life is already changing for the teen who stands accused of writing and distributing the Sasser virus, as well as being strongly linked to Netsky. He has controversially already landed a job with a German security company - drawing criticism from all sides of the security industry.

But before he can get on with his life Jaschan must first wait to find out whether he must first serve time in prison when he faces charges of maliciously causing more than $150,000 of damage.

Such is the ferocity of the media spotlight on Jaschan and the court which is trying him he recently hit the Top 20 of silicon.com's Agenda Setters poll.

Jaschan was arrested in September after an associate of his turned him in the police following Microsoft's offer of $250,000 for information leading to the arrest of the writer responsible for two of the most prevalent and destructive viruses of the past year.

In the first six months of the year Netsky and Sasser accounted for more than 70 per cent of all reported virus infections.