John Schiefer has plead guilty to charges of spreading malware to thousands of computers and using them as botnets, ripping off users' passwords and eavesdropping on commercial transactions in order to steal personal information. Schiefer's case is the first time U.S. prosecutors have used federal wiretapping laws to charge someone in relation to botnet crimes.A Los Angeles computer security consultant agreed Friday to plead guilty to using computer spyware that he planted in other people's computers to steal identities, U.S. federal prosecutors said.
John Schiefer, 26, was accused of using "botnets" -- armies of infected computers -- to steal the identities of victims across the country by extracting information from their personal computers and wiretapping their communications, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.
Story Link Here