Three Mirai Botnet Creators Plead Guilty, Facing Up To Ten Years In Prison

With there being so many hacking incidents to have occurred or be revealed this year alone, it’s easy to forget that 2016 saw its own share of malware mayhem, as well. A good example is the Mirai botnet incident that crippled computers all over the world, causing millions of dollars’ worth of damages. The three perpetrators behind this incident have since pleaded guilty to the charges and could face up to ten years in prison.

The hackers in question are Paras Jha, 21, Dalton Norman, 21, and Josiah White, 20, PC Mag reports. The trio made the pleas in an Alaskan district court with the documents only recently getting released.

According to the records, the defenders admitted to creating the Mirai botnet army, which eventually affected over 300,000 computers. While the three hackers did develop the source code together, it would appear that Jha was the leader of the operation and was responsible for developing the code for the botnet back in July 2016.

By August 2016, the other two members spread the malware, which proceeded to infect hundreds of thousands of computers. By doing so, the devices became part of their army, which they used to sow chaos and destruction.

Aside from the Mirai botnet case, Jha was also prosecuted for another crime involving an internet scheme called “clickfraud,” Reuters reports. This reportedly allowed the defendant to earn 200 bitcoins, which would be valued at a total of $3.4 million as of writing.

Apparently, Jha was duly remorseful for his crimes, according to his attorney Robert Stahl. Stahl tried to excuse his client’s behavior by essentially saying that he was just a stupid teenager since Jha was only 19 when he committed the crime.

“Starting when he was just 19 years old, (Jha) made a series of mistakes with significant consequences that he only now fully appreciates,” Stahl said. “He is extremely remorseful and accepts full responsibility for his actions.”