The creator of the Melissa computer virus, which hobbled computer
systems across the United States three years ago, was sentenced Wednesday
to 20 months in prison and ordered to pay $5,000 in fines.
Virus creator David L. Smith also must serve 3 years of supervised
release, during which he cannot use the Internet, computer networks, or
bulletin boards unless authorized by the court.
The judge also ordered Smith to complete 100 hours of community
service, which will take advantage of his computer skills in a supervised
atmosphere.
Smith, who was nabbed shortly after the virus was released, pleaded
guilty in December 1999. In his plea document, Smith agreed that he caused
$80 million in damages.
The Melissa virus was one of the first major viruses to wreak havoc on
corporate networks. It disguised itself as a friendly e-mail containing
the subject line "Important message from" followed by the name
of a familiar person. If an Outlook user opened the attachment, the virus
would send itself to the top 50 listings in the user's address book and
add that person's name to the subject of the message.
Although the virus itself was not considered malicious because it did
not delete files, the exponential multiplication of messages caused some
systems to come to a grinding halt.