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A Scottish botnet master was this morning jailed for 18 months and ordered to pay £5,000 costs for hijacking many thousands of computers from his mum's front room. Matthew Anderson, 33, from Drummuir, used the global network of compromised machines to send tens of millions of spam emails. The father of five, whose own home was …

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  1. andy gibson
    Happy

    "a series of panic attacks led him to spend more time indoors."

    Well he'll be very happy where he's going as he won't be spending much time outdoors.

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  2. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Hey, hackers are going up in the world

    by exactly one floor- from mum's basement to mum's front room!

    Still, he did DDOS the BNP and the Countryside Alliance. That should have gotten him some sort of leniency!

    1 5
    1. Elmer Phud
      Reply Icon

      good lad gone to rot

      Yeah, should have kept his talents to screwing over the fascists (yup that's both of 'em).

      But all this with no broadband? Maybe a medal for persistance in the face of dial-up.

      1 5
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    bring back the stocks....

    'Evil little shite deserves no better. Soft fruit only - no rocks. Humiliation and public denigration as a warning. And while were at it, bring out those bankers and currency speculators....

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    1. Les Matthew
      Reply Icon
      Thumb Up

      Re: bring back the stocks

      "And while were at it, bring out those bankers and currency speculators...."

      Rocks only - no soft fruit.

      2 0
  4. Atonnis

    50 million spam emails...

    Consider the cost of fending off 50million+ spam emails to companies and then charge this dickweed accordingly.

    He deserves more nuisance in his life rather than prison time.

    3 1
  5. David 140

    Opton-Security, Eh?

    I presume this is somewhat connected?

    http://www.usedcarmart.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=7148

    0 0
  6. Wommit
    Thumb Down

    When are the CPS going to

    start adding theft of electricity to the charges?

    I pay for the leccy that drives my PC, if someone else is running a program on my PC then they are stealing my leccy.

    The punishment should be proportionate as well. Hanging for the first offence, drawing & quartering for any subsequent offences.

    2 1
    1. Rich 30
      Reply Icon

      interesting

      I've never thought of it like that.

      interesting thought.

      1 0
  7. There's a bee in my bot net

    Thats what passes as a hacker these days?

    Wow - way to cover your tracks! You are 5up3r l33t!!!

    1 0
  8. mamsey
    Coat

    That many computers?

    'A Scottish botnet master was this morning jailed for 18 months and ordered to pay £5,000 costs for hijacking many thousands of computers from his mum's front room.'

    I don't think his mother should have been allowed to have that many computers.

    2 0
    1. Gilgamesh
      Reply Icon

      As I've said many times before

      if we all spoke Latin* then none of this confusion would arise.

      *or Esperanto

      0 0
  9. Charles Calthrop
    Go

    Have a nice weekend dickface

    This weekend I'm going to take my kids for a walk on the moors, have some friends round for drinks, browse the net and bang my delicious wife. Enjoy prison fuckface. Hopefully you'll deter some other humanity sapping bastard who completely screws over what the www is supposed to be about.

    1 1
  10. Steve 114

    Panic Attacks

    Other reports say he couldn't work because of 'Panic Attacks'. With five children, that's what you get. Prison should help a lot.

    1 1
  11. There's a bee in my bot net

    Did I miss something?

    Did this guy murder someone? Rape, pillage?

    Nope! He sent some spam... and spied on a crying girl. (Ok he may have done worse, I don't know)

    But assuming the facts are as stated, why such hostility?

    I've had servers black listed because of spammers (in more innocent times), fought with floods of spam, been put off breakfast by horrendous porn email and been elated at the news of my impending good fortune as I receive the funds of the late Mr Ubuntu, yet I don't feel that 18months is appropriate. Perhaps a few hundred hours community service and a fine equal to the revenue he generated, plus a short custodial sentence for the spying.

    2 8
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Err, deterrent?

      You're right it does seem a trifle ott for him but hopefully other little bastards plotting the sending of all that spam will look at the £12k earnings v 18 months in the pokey and think twice before sending me spam too.

      2 1
  12. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Thumb Up

    And they say these guys leave alone in their mom's basements

    I guess in his case that might come as a bit of a relief from the 5 sprogs tearing the place up 24/7.

    Sticking a compromised PC in the eCrime unit. WTF was that about? Proving how smart he was? Finding out if they were on to him?

    I guess he never considered that being the Police they could *ask* who had that account if the hosting company were in the UK.

    Given the huge pile of crap the UK Police has foisted on the GP in the name of "Computer crime," it's nice to see someone who actually *deserves* a prison sentence going to jail.

    It's so damm rare.

    1 0
  13. phil 27
    Thumb Up

    let down

    I was really elated, eCrime actually catch botnet master. Until right at the end the old adage sprang up. Only the stupid get caught.

    What a complete amateur, using a server registered to himself, with the same traceable emails and a gmail email addy, ONSHORE in the uk.

    He didnt put one in the eCrime unit in the article, he had one at a hospital that the sysadmin's traced back to the fasthosts, or thats at least how I read it.

    If he had of compromised the eCrime network, id have had to tip my hat in slight distasteful respect at the balls but he didnt.

    For the leniency, its about intent. He KNEW 100000% he was being lowlife scum, he went about it every day planning and scheming. Over a long period. Most assaults with short sentances are heat of the moment incidents, otherwise it becomes 10+ years for premeditated manslaughter or the like... Jail him with nothing more sophisticated than a red led commodore calculator and leave him to rot there...

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