Simon Vallor
Encyclopedia
Simon Vallor aka Gobo is a 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. He pleaded guilty to spreading the viruses – Gokar
, Redesi
and Admirer. One virus alone was proven to have infected 27,000 PCs in 42 countries.
in 2001, Jan de Wit, 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
, a company that makes security software, has called for an internationally agreed approach to charging and sentencing virus writers.
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
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. He pleaded guilty to spreading the viruses – Gokar
Gokar
Gokar is a computer virus of the worm-type. It is written by Simon Vallor. Gokar spreads via the internet by sending itself as an e-mail attachment to addresses in the Outlook address book. For description/information about this virus go to the 'sophos'-link below this page....
, Redesi
Redesi
Redesi is a Win32 worm written by Simon Vallor who also wrote worm-programs like Gokar and Admirer. Redesi uses Microsoft Outlook to spread. These worms arrive in an email message with a randomly chosen subject....
and Admirer. One virus alone was proven to have infected 27,000 PCs in 42 countries.
Sentence
Not all countries are treating cybercriminals in the same manner as the UK courts. For example, in the NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
in 2001, Jan de Wit, author of the Anna Kournikova
Anna Kournikova (computer virus)
The Anna Kournikova computer virus was a computer virus authored by Dutch programmer Jan de Wit on February 11, 2001. It was designed to trick email users into opening a mail message purportedly containing a picture of tennis player Anna Kournikova, while actually hiding a malicious program...
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
Sophos
Sophos is a developer and vendor of security software and hardware, including anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, network access control, encryption software and data loss prevention for desktops, servers, email systems and other network gateways....
, a company that makes security software, has called for an internationally agreed approach to charging and sentencing virus writers.