Simon Vallor

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Simon Vallor is a twenty-two year old web designer from North Wales who, in December 2002, pleaded guilty to writing and distributing three computer viruses. On 21 January 2003 he was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court, London to a two year custodial sentence. His viruses - Gokar, Redesi and Admirer - were proven to have infected 27,000 PCs in 42 countries.

[edit] Differences in punishments

Not all countries are treating cybercriminals in the same manner as the UK courts. For example, in The Netherlands in 2001, the author of the Anna Kournikova worm received a punishment of just 150 hours community service, even though his worm spread much quicker and further than Vallor's three viruses combined. Sophos is therefore calling for an internationally agreed approach to charging and sentencing virus writers.

Sentencing Vallor, who went by the pseudonym of "Gobo", Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC said "Virus writers are not so-called computer buffs or nerds, they happen to be criminals... Their viruses cause destruction, disruption, consternation and even economic loss on a grand scale."

Source: [1]