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Blaster suspect had launched earlier attacks, court files say

By Monica Soto Ouchi
Seattle Times technology reporter

	Jeffrey Lee Parson
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Parson, a high-school senior from Hopkins, Minn., had traveled to Seattle to face charges that he infected computers with a malicious worm. His parents couldn't afford the trip, so he flew alone.

In a Jan. 30 motion from Parson's attorney — one that asked a District Court judge to move the trial from Seattle to his home state of Minneapolis — Parson is described as a teenager with emotional difficulties and lingering health problems, who, until his Seattle arraignment, had never spent a significant time away from home.

The Seattle Times, along with other media outlets, petitioned the court to unseal documents related to Parson's case. U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman on Tuesday ordered most of the documents unsealed.

The Jan. 30 motion, among other filings, offers a more detailed picture of Parson, who is charged with unleashing a variant of the Blaster worm, a malicious code that infected at least a million computers and cost Microsoft roughly $10 million in damages.

The original author of the Blaster worm, the version that caused the bulk of the damage, has yet to be identified.

Pechman denied the motion to move Parson's case. His trial is scheduled to begin May 17 in Seattle.

Parson, a 6-foot-4, 320-pound teenager, whose buzz cut is accented by a strip of bleached-blond bangs, was known online by the moniker "teekid."

According to one document filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Parson had spent the better part of the past eight years studying computers. He had taught himself various computer protocols and languages, including HTML and C++.

Federal and local authorities learned as much when they searched Parson's home Aug. 19 and seized seven computers.

In the same filing, federal prosecutors allege it wasn't the first time Parson unleashed malicious code. They accused him of launching previous denial-of-service attacks, including ones against the Web sites of the Motion Picture Association of America and Recording Industry Association of America. In such attacks, traffic to a network or Web site is so excessive that it slows or shuts down the site.
 
According to the original complaint, an unidentified hacker unleashed an Internet worm called Blaster on Aug. 11. The malicious code turned computers into drones that scanned and infected other computers.

The worm also instructed the infected computers to launch a denial-of-service attack against Microsoft's www.windowsupdate.com domain on Aug. 16. Microsoft was able to stop the attack by severing that traffic's access to its Web site.

Parson learned of the worm from www.antivirus.com, a Web site that ranks worms and viruses in order of threat, according to arrest papers.

Parson allegedly downloaded the worm to his computer on Aug. 13 or 14, unpacked the contents and edited the worm. Parson's version installed a "back door" on infected computers that allowed him to remotely control those systems. He then uploaded the worm to a group of 50 to 60 computers that he previously accessed illegally, records show.

Authorities said Parson was identified as the author of the modified worm because his variant instructed infected computers to contact his personal Web site, www.t33kid.com, the complaint said.

He was arrested Aug. 29 in Minneapolis and released on a $25,000 bond.

Parson's attorneys argued that the trial should be moved to Minneapolis to accommodate the bulk of witnesses and his family. Parson's father was laid off from his job last April and has collected unemployment since. His mother is supported by disability payments, court records show.

While the government provides a one-way fare for Parson to attend court hearings, he is responsible for paying for the return flight.

Parson's attorneys said he has had extreme difficulty finding a job "given the present notoriety of the case."

Parson has been under home detention since August. He was first allowed to leave home just for school and medical appointments, but he was later allowed one hour for exercise each day. He is electronically monitored to ensure he stays away from computers and the Internet.

In the filings, Microsoft said the attacks cost it $8 million in August alone for additional equipment, services and labor as it fought the attack. That's roughly equivalent to the annual budget of the city of Hopkins, Parson's hometown.

Monica Soto Ouchi: 206-515-5632 or msoto@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company