Virus writer trial postponed

Sven Jaschan, the German teenager suspected of spreading the Sasser and Netsky worms, will not face trial until next year.

The 18-year-old German, who was recently given a job at an internet security company, was charged with computer sabotage amounting to $157,00 in August.

A North German court has decided to delay his case until January 2005 because it proved impossible to agree an earlier date with all the parties involved, reports security company Sophos.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, said: "Home users and companies around the world who were struck by the Netsky and Sasser worms will be watching with interest to see what happens in this case."

"Hopefully a strong message will be sent to virus writers that what they're doing isn't a game, but a criminal act with serious consequences."

Virus writer Jeffrey Parson, who confessed to writing the Blaster-B worm and was arrested in the USA last year, is due to be sentenced on 2 November. Female virus writer Gigabyte, who was arrested in February in Belgium, still hasn't been brought to trial.

Separately, Sophos has warned users of Red Hat Linux to be wary of a hoax email that claims to be an official security update for the operating system.

The fake email claims to come from security@redhat.com and asks users to install a 'security patch'. However, Red Hat has confirmed that its real security messages are sent from secalert@redhat.com and are always digitally signed.