Busybee brings us an update on the case against Jasmine Singh, a NJ based, 17 year-old Sikh hacker:
An Indian-American teenager, described by prosecutors as an online gangster, was sentenced to five years in prison by a New Jersey Superior Court judge last month for hacking into online businesses, costing them over $1.5 million in revenue losses.In addition to serving the sentence, Jasmine Singh, 17, of Edison in Middlesex County, New Jersey, was also ordered by Judge Frederick DeVesa to pay restitution to the tune of $35,000.
“Online gangster?” Hyperbole, thought I, until further search lead me right back, natch, to the SepiaMutiny archives, where Manish brilliantly explains how this kid controlled over 2,000 PCs using a Trojan horse named “Jennifer Lopez.” He promised naked pics, gullible horndogs lost their computers.
So beta did a bad, bad, thing.
A very bad thing. Techworld has a write-up that sounds glamorously close to the plot of Hackers, only sadly, no Angelina Jolie:
In 2004, after months of putting a virtual tail on a hacker who called himself Pherk, FBI agent Timothy Nestor had the guy right where he wanted him.Though unsure of Pherk’s identity, Special Agent Nestor was tracking every digital footstep the hacker took as he wreaked havoc on dozens of businesses by shutting down their online storefronts.
Pherk, of course, turns out to be our pal Zero Cool, er, Jasmine Singh Cheema. Uncinematically however, Cheema got slapped with five years in Juvie, and a $35,000 fine….all for a few sneakers and a watch.
This kid is clearly the sort of bright, underachieving young punk specifically built to make good-hearted educators and desi parents rend their garments in sorrow. But what’s this pompous blowhard’s excuse?
Singh was charged with two first-degree charges of computer theft, and faced up to 40 years in prison. Defense attorney Lawrence Bitterman negotiated a plea bargain, exposing Singh to as much as 10 years in prison.Last year a 17-year-old German, Sven Jaschan, released the Sasser worm, one of the costliest hacks in the history of the Internet. A German judge gave him a 21-month suspended sentence and ordered 30 hours of community service…
Cyber crime is serious stuff. “I believe,” said the FBI agent who worked the Singh case, “the next Pearl Harbor, the next 9/11, will be cyber-related.”
Bitterman, who said he only uses the Internet for sports news, said of his client, “He was just a kid fooling around with his computer.”
Jasmine Singh, 17, will be doing five years at the Garden State Youth Correctional Facility in Yardville. Kids, take notice.
Being the Forrest Gump of all tech matters, I don’t know if the next 9/11 will be cyber-related; I can’t tell if he was just fooling around with his computer. (Well, my parents hold a rather grim view of “just fooling around” with anything.)
But I can recognize a kindred spirit…I can smell a fear of AirPorts and motherboards in his every sentence. Maybe he pictures mad hackers, lounging in pajamas while directing botnet armies, like this guy. In which case, I wonder what he’d write upon visiting the North Dakota headquarters, seeing us blogging away. As the newbie, they gave me the bathroom workstation you know…
Related post.
So….all the millions financial companies are spending on securing their networks are effectively shit right now..according to this FBI guy. Shoulda just made her work for free for the government man, in effect community service.
i think i would be honored to be called an “online gangster.”
yes, what he did was bad, real bad. but, i guess i don’t really understand why he was sentenced for five years. i don’t understand the magnitude of hacking, i guess. it seems so surreal to think that one can control things at a touch of a button, while sitting in a coffee establishment, eating a biscotti. or as the cartoon points out, while you are on the lou.
Hackers’ worms take down banks and airlines regularly and sometimes even passport control computers.
Manish, how bad was the Sasser worm? That kid jsut got some community service, so what gives with the severity of this ruling?
The Sasser sentence wasn’t handed down in the U.S. Also, Sasser was written for fun AFAIK, while this one was for profit.
But if it was written for fun, how did it become “one of the costliest hacks in history”? Accident?
Just curious cause I don’t usually associate the Germans with permissiveness…
Does America have a young offenders act for persecuting minors ?
Germany probably has one, thats why the sasser kid got off so easy.
Unlike many worms, it propagated by brute force instead of lying low (the author didn’t care whether it was detected). It also used a widespread security hole right after the hole was announced, and before most users installed the latest security patch.
Jaschan got off easy because he was tried in Germany as a minor.
wait…a boy? named jasmine???
oh boy. now i’ve heard everything.
From previous post about this by Manish:
Jasmine (Jasminder?) Singh infected thousands of PCs with a Trojan horse by spreading a file called ‘Jennifer Lopez’ over file sharing networks.
Wow, I didnt know this happened to him. I used to know him and talk to him online 3yrs ago.
He didnt really do 1.1 million in damages, the fbi always exaggeerates their shit, eh didnt do much, just DDoS’d websites, (which are later up after a 1-3days and back to normal) He didnt serve his 5year sentence, the sentence was actually lowered to about 9 months. there are thousands of people like Jasmine Singh out there, it wasnt really a big deal, he shouldnt have served it. but now hes out and avoided the full 5 year sentence. he is on parole and bannded from using computers FOR LIFE.!!
i see him around sometimes.. dude’s a loser
dude frutiiii! the real one punished here is his family who paid or is paying the fine and trying to keep the guy out of trouble the guy sure is a trouble and needs serious help i hope he reads this and gets his facts straight and understand how hard it is to make both ends meet in real life
My cousin learned his mistakes and had problems with family and other things. He was stressed and lost, at least he wasn’t shooting or killing people, like some people in “real world” that take lives away. Yes he was aware of his actions but he didn’t care…He really didn’t care what happened at that time…it’s called Depression and that isn’t totally his fault. He was just a youngin with no guidance, and by the way he is not a loser in Cali…He use to live here in the bay, and he was big pimpin…It’s just when he went back to his family in new jersey. golddigger on April 18, 2007 01:08 PM · Direct link dude frutiiii! the real one punished here is his family who paid or is paying the fine and trying to keep the guy out of trouble the guy sure is a trouble and needs serious help i hope he reads this and gets his facts straight and understand how hard it is to make both ends meet in real life Don’t worry about his parents. They own about six gas-stations…They need to worry about not neglecting their other son…or he’ll be worse than Jay…Jay’s also very smart, no one here who is posting comments about him being a loser really don’t know him, he is very intelligent. My advice to everyone, when you have kids, make sure you do not neglect them, and if you are having problems with your partner…please not in front of your kids…and do not ever take out your anger on your children. As you can see where that takes you… Much luv cuzz…Nav
So this guy still stressing over Nessa?
No he can care less about that lil girl. The last girl he was with was a model from NJ…she was really cute, her name started with a S…Wayyy prettier than that Nesi girl…I was the one that advised him to stop talking to that weird girl, nesi…LOL…
WHY DOES THAT DUDE PERSON ONLY GET ONLY A 21-MONTH SUSPENDED SENTENCE AND GOT ORDERED 30 HOURS OF COMMUNITY SERVICE? AND THE GIRL GET A FIVE YEAR JUVEE TIME? IM CONFUSED!!
I think it was because of Nessa.
Pherky taking over AIM s/n’s because of Nessa. LOL SADFACE.